Top Ag Man for County Reappointed

The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to reappoint Earl McPhail as Ventura County’s agricultural commissioner, ending a six-month performance review that focused unprecedented attention on a department struggling to balance the needs of farmers with the concerns of their suburban neighbors.

The unanimous vote, made in closed session, extends McPhail’s contract four more years and sets in motion a series of initiatives designed to address pressing issues facing agriculture as housing tracts bump up against farmland.

Among those efforts is the creation of a committee that will bring together community members dedicated to bridging the gap between the opposing interests.

After the vote, McPhail shook hands with the supervisors and thanked them for their support. With tears in his eyes, he hugged his wife, Willa, who had waited more than six hours with him at Tuesday’s board meeting as supervisors waded through a mound of other business.

“I’m very relieved,” the 52-year-old Santa Paula resident said afterward. “My promise to them is that I will continue to do the very best job I can. My job is to make sure that the next time I’m up for reappointment there are none of these questions.”

After 20 years as the county’s top farm official, McPhail found himself at the center of controversy when it came time to extend his contract in January.

Environmentalists and homeowners called for McPhail’s ouster, saying he was a lax pesticide regulator and unresponsive to public concerns. Supporters rallied to his defense, saying he had become a target for groups intent on co-opting the commissioner’s office and advancing an anti-pesticide agenda.

Supervisors weighed in earlier this year, saying McPhail was out of touch with the public and failed to communicate his department’s activities to the board. They refused to renew his contract, launching instead the six-month job evaluation.

Since then, they say, he has worked hard to address their concerns, improving his accessibility and communication skills, and attending public hearings to talk directly to residents.

“I think we made the right decision,” said Supervisor John Flynn, who gave McPhail a thumbs-up after emerging from the closed session. The vote was then announced to the public, bringing a broad smile to McPhail’s face.

“I feel quite happy with Earl and the way he has responded to concerns,” Flynn said. “I don’t think it’s fair to take all the issues faced by an urbanizing county and throw them all on one person.”

The controversy over Flynn’s performance started in 1996 when east Ventura residents, including the operator of a day-care center, began reporting that they were being sickened by pesticide vapors drifting from a strawberry field behind their homes.

Residents complained to the agricultural commissioner’s office, but were told that the strawberry farmer had met all state and more stringent local regulations. Environmentalists and public health advocates took up the cause, accusing McPhail’s office of failing to adequately respond to the residents’ concerns and of underplaying pesticide-related health hazards.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Pesticide Regulation said McPhail’s office had conducted shoddy investigations and was lax on record-keeping and enforcement of safety violations. Such deficiencies caused the state to withhold several thousand dollars in funding for pesticide programs.

With that in mind, anti-pesticide advocates on Tuesday once again urged supervisors not to reappoint McPhail to the post.

“We are concerned about the 20-year history of failure on his part to make necessary lasting changes in his department in order to protect the public as well as agriculture in Ventura County,” said Lynda Uvari, a member of Community & Children’s Advocates Against Pesticide Poisoning.

But supporters urged the board to reappoint McPhail, saying he has done a good job of balancing all the interests related to agriculture.

Supporters also note that the commissioner’s office has been hamstrung by a lack of personnel, a problem remedied last month when supervisors increased funding for McPhail’s office that will add two pesticide inspectors and a deputy commissioner.

“We are opposed to the politicizing of that office and that’s what we see being attempted,” said Rex Laird, executive director of the Ventura County Farm Bureau. “As far as I’m concerned, his main focus has always been the public health and safety of residents and those who work in agriculture.”