Leadership Role Critical

Have six months of increased scrutiny resolved concerns about Ventura County’s agricultural commissioner?

The Board of Supervisors will determine that next month when it decides whether to renew the contract of Earl McPhail, who has held the job for two decades.

In January, rather than extend McPhail’s contract for another four years, the supervisors voted to give him six months to prove he can do a better job of keeping them informed and responding to the public’s concerns. The action followed years of complaints by homeowners and environmental groups that Ventura County is less vigilant than other farming counties at enforcing regulations on the use of pesticides. The state Department of Pesticide Regulation contends that the Ventura County’s pesticide control program has suffered from shoddy investigations, lax enforcement and poor record-keeping of pesticide violations at farms for at least six years.

In April, the Ventura County grand jury issued a report declaring that the county’s agricultural inspectors are grossly underpaid and lack the support they need to effectively monitor pesticide use. The report made several recommendations to bring the office “into the 20th century,” including pay raises, equipping offices with personal computers and answering machines and moving the agricultural commissioner’s office from Santa Paula to a more central location.

McPhail’s defenders point out that the agricultural commissioner’s office has had to contend with a shrinking or constrained budget in spite of ever-increasing demands on its staff time and other resources. Responsibilities include enforcing state agricultural code laws and pesticide use regulations, educating the public about and protecting the public from potentially harmful insects and creating a favorable business environment for agriculture.

True, enforcing pesticide regulations and responding to non-farmers’ concerns are just two facets of an increasingly complicated job. But they are significant facets--and ones that become dramatically more important each year as Ventura County grows and urbanizes.

McPhail has been slow to respond to the growing need for his office to play the roles of diplomat, educator and enforcer of the delicate balance between farmers and their urban neighbors. If farmers are to continue to thrive in Ventura County, and if the rest of the county’s residents are to coexist with agriculture on good terms and in good health, we will need a county agricultural commissioner with the zeal and diplomatic skills to serve both camps.

Addressing the office’s budget, pay and technology problems is part of the answer. A larger part is leadership. The board was wise to delay renewing McPhail’s contract and instead challenge him to do better. It should look closely at the attitudes and innovations he has shown in the past six months and ask whether he has demonstrated the ability to embrace the broader role of ag commissioner in modern-day Ventura County.