Businesses Sought for Welfare Council

County officials are seeking help from local businesses in an effort to reinvent the county’s welfare system.

Supervisor Frank Schillo, who is leading the drive, said business input will be vital to the success or failure of the county’s evolving “welfare to work” reform efforts.

The 12-member business council would act as an advisory group for the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

“We want them to advise county government people on what they’re looking for and ways to get people employed,” he said. “Their input will help create the system that Ventura County will use in the future for getting people employed.”

The business council will address issues such as worker placement, worker training and eliminating overlapping functions in county government. The 12-member group also will discuss employer liability for workers’ compensation and health care.

Mary Claire Slais, owner of Frames By You in Thousand Oaks, is one of two business representatives who has signed up for the council.

“People deserve to be able to get a job, and the system sometimes wears you down,” Slais said. “The more we can help them, the better off the work force is going to be and the better off society is going to be.”

Schillo said the county needs to improve its communication with employers and clarify its practices.

In some cases, he said, seven different agencies would call one employer because the agencies were all working with the same welfare recipient.

“You can’t do that,” Schillo continued. “It’s a waste of time, it’s inefficient and it probably would drive businesses crazy.”

The council will meet five times between mid-September and November. For more information, call 373-2564.