Schillo Seeks to Revise Transit Board’s Makeup

Concerned that some cities are not getting their fair share of transportation dollars, Ventura County Supervisor Frank Schillo is proposing a radical change in the makeup of the county’s Transportation Commission.

Schillo’s plan would scrap the seven-member panel’s current configuration, which includes three city representatives, two supervisors and two citizens with voting power.

The commission oversees a spending pool of $55 million and sets priorities for countywide transportation projects.

Under Schillo’s plan, all five county supervisors as well as a council member from each of the county’s 10 cities would have a vote on the panel. Schillo said his proposal was prompted out of concern that cities are not fairly represented on the existing panel and therefore transportation money is not equally distributed.

“All cities should get a fair share of the funds,” Schillo said Friday. “All of the transportation money is funneled through VCTC, so if any city has a particular project they want to push through and that city is not on the board, who do you think is going to get the funds?. . . . There should be a level playing field.”

Schillo--who has sat on the commission since its inception 10 years ago--said the countywide City Selection Committee recommended changing the commission’s makeup.

That committee is made up of the county’s 10 mayors. It selects the city and citizen representatives for the Transportation Commission as well as members for other countywide commissions.

If supervisors endorse Schillo’s plan on Tuesday, the move would be subject to legislative approval.

In emphasizing the importance of countywide representation, Schillo recalled when commissioners considered revoking funding for a transportation center proposed for Thousand Oaks. No city official from Thousand Oaks was there to defend the funding.

Currently, only mayors from Simi Valley, Ventura and Port Hueneme serve as commissioners.

“I represent the unincorporated areas of Thousand Oaks and I spoke up,” Schillo said. “But if I wasn’t there the funding might have been lost. That kind of thing can happen if you don’t have someone on the commission.”

Thousand Oaks Councilman Mike Markey chaired the City Selection Committee last year when the issue was discussed. He and other committee members expressed concern that no elected officials from their cities sit on the Transportation Commission.

“When you’re on the board you can fight for dollars to be allocated to your city,” Markey said. “That all the cities get fair representation, that’s all we’re talking about.”

The Thousand Oaks, Santa Paula and Moorpark city councils have voted to support the restructuring plan, and the county’s seven remaining cities also are expected to endorse it.

But officials from some cities strongly oppose another part of Schillo’s plan, which suggests the Ventura Council of Governments oversee the Transportation Commission.

“They believe they shouldn’t be a subcommittee to a different agency,” said Ginger Gherardi, the commission’s executive director, adding that she and her staff members have taken no position on the restructuring plan.