Fox Proposes ‘Unity’ Plan for Council

Just one year.

If this city’s politically polarized leaders could simply stop trying to verbally disfigure each other for just one year, maybe they could find common ground and resolve Thousand Oaks’ most emotional issues: growth control, campaign finance limits and the City Council’s makeup.

That is the premise behind the “Three-point Plan for City Unity,” a proposal unveiled Wednesday by Councilman Andy Fox in the wake of the expensive, divisive and ultimately unsuccessful drive to recall Councilwoman Elois Zeanah.

Fox said his peace-pipe offering, which he is asking the council to endorse Tuesday, seeks to address hot issues directly to minimize political rhetoric in 1998.

To that end, Fox is proposing a symposium on growth, a citizens’ committee to study campaign finance limits and a formal discussion on the city political structure, including whether Thousand Oaks should have an elected mayor and more than five council members.

Any recommendations stemming from the forums would then be approved by the council or put before city voters.

“My goal here is to open up the discussion and debate, take it out of the finger-pointing council arena and involve the community about their future,” Fox said. “For whatever reason, these issues have not been resolved, and we need to take care of them now.”

In the eyes of Councilwoman Linda Parks, however, Fox’s actions speak louder than his words, and highlight the source of the council’s ever-widening rift. She criticized Fox for faxing his lofty plan to the media before notifying his colleagues--an accusation Fox denied, saying the memo was sent to all council members first.

“This went out to all the newspapers before we even heard of it,” Parks said. “Our biggest problem is communication. I’m all for more discussions on these issues, but I think we need to open the lines of communications with each other, not use the media to put our political platforms together.”

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Meanwhile, Parks said, none of Zeanah’s political opponents has had the tact to offer her a cheerful word following this month’s recall election.

“No one has said anything to her--not even a ‘Welcome back,’ ” Parks said. “That says a lot to me. That’s the problem we have on the council.”

As envisioned by Fox, a growth symposium would include not only City Council members, but their elected counterparts from the Conejo Valley Unified School District and the Conejo Recreation and Park District, as well as staff from the three agencies.

The public would also be included. Many of the growth concerns expressed by Thousand Oaks residents--overcrowded schools and recreational facilities--are not solely council issues and require a broader effort if the city is to find a solution, Fox said.

He believes the passage of Measure E, a growth-control initiative approved by Thousand Oaks voters last year, took care of fears that the city could grow larger than called for in the General Plan, the city’s planning blueprint. Measure E now requires voter approval for all General Plan exemptions that would increase the density of housing tracts or shopping centers.

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But he knows not everyone--certainly not Parks and Zeanah--agrees, so he would like to discuss additional solutions.

“I challenge my colleagues to approach this issue with a sense of cooperation and a true desire to put forth specific legislative proposals that are above and beyond the city’s already strict development controls,” Fox wrote in his memo to the council.

For a campaign finance limits committee, Fox would like the council to put together a panel of representatives from such groups as the League of Women Voters, the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn., the city’s Community Budget Task Force and the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Each organization would choose its own representative, guaranteeing an “apolitical” panel, said Fox, who has opposed several campaign-finance proposals in the past on grounds they favored incumbents or wealthy candidates.

The committee would review pertinent laws and campaign limits adopted by other cities, and then issue recommendations which, under Fox’s proposal, the council would either have to approve or reject, but could not amend.

That idea did not sit well with Parks, who said she has plenty of ideas when it comes to campaign finance limits, one of the issues on which she based her successful council campaign last year. She said the entire council should also have plenty to offer on the subject, considering they have all run for city office at least once.

“To have a committee discuss campaign finance reform then have their ideas be binding--I’m not in favor of that at all,” Parks said. “I’m glad to see he now believes in campaign finance reform, but I believe this is an issue for us to decide.”

Lastly, Fox would like to see an open-ended, wide-ranging discussion on whether the City Council’s structure is the best way to represent Thousand Oaks residents.

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Though Fox stressed he has no specific ideas in mind, he said the discussions could include such issues as whether citizens would be better off electing the mayor instead of the current practice of allowing council members to choose among each other.

Another issue that could be discussed is whether Thousand Oaks should adopt a city charter, or municipal constitution of sorts, instead of continuing as a California general-law city. That would, among other things, allow Thousand Oaks to expand the council from five to seven members.

Any suggested changes could then be put before the voters for approval in next year’s June primary, Fox said. The changes would then be in place for the November elections, when the terms of Fox, Mayor Judy Lazar and Zeanah end.

“I just think these things need to be looked at, considering where we are as a city right now,” Fox said. “Maybe there’s a better way to do this.”

Not surprisingly, perhaps, Parks saw Fox’s motivations differently.

“He has indicated to me in the past that he supports the idea of an elected mayor,” Parks said. “I have a pretty good idea of who he has in mind.”