Community Activist Appointed to Planning Commission

The City Council has appointed community activist Lauri Flack to a two-year term on Ventura’s seven-member Planning Commission.

She will finish out the term of former commissioner Sandy Smith, who was elected to the council in November.

Flack has led the push to organize neighborhood councils in the city over the past two years and encouraged citizens to get more involved in city planning.

She currently heads the Westside Community Council, and has helped neighborhood groups in midtown, east and downtown Ventura to put together community councils of their own.

The council approved the appointment unanimously Monday. Councilman Jack Tingstrom said that although Flack is known best for her work on the west side, the council is appointing Flack because of her “contributions to the whole city.”

Some in the community have said that Flack is most effective as an outside agitator. But Flack said she can wear two hats.

“I’m going to continue to be a community involvement advocate,” she said.

The City Council also reappointed Jean Getchell as a port district commissioner. Getchell resigned from her commissioner post in December, saying she no longer had the time to devote to the job. But she was able to rearrange her private affairs, and several days later asked to be reappointed. Her term will end in 1999.