Cities Make a Big Pitch for Relief

Hoping to encourage other Ventura County cities to contribute to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, elected leaders in Thousand Oaks and Moorpark challenged the county’s eight other cities to donate at least $1 per resident.

If all 10 cities were to do so, they would raise roughly $800,000.

But the Thousand Oaks City Council upped the ante Tuesday night, when it pledged $250,000. The city has a population of 125,000.

The city will make direct donations to local and national charities, evacuees and government agencies devastated by flooding in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Thousand Oaks and Moorpark officials are discussing sponsoring a few displaced families by offering free rent, financial and relocation assistance, and help to get their children registered in local schools, considered among the best in California.

“The level of devastation is mind-boggling -- some 95,000 square miles of affected area,” said Thousand Oaks Councilman Dennis Gillette. “This is one of those situations where it’s our obligation to do something.”

Scott Mitnick, Thousand Oaks’ interim city manager, suggested the council give staff members until the council’s next meeting on Sept. 27 to offer specific suggestions on where the money should come from and how it should be spent.

Among the options discussed so far, Mitnick said the city could allow employees to convert unused vacation days into donations, provide a dollar-for-dollar city match to such contributions, cover the salary of employees lent to help in the Gulf Coast’s relief and rebuilding efforts and coordinate with local housing agencies, hotels and motels to provide temporary shelter for evacuees.

Moorpark Councilman Keith Millhouse, who urged his colleagues last week to consider ways to help evacuees, said that if his small city can put up the more than $35,000 representing its population, then every local city should be able to find an extra $1 per person in their budgets.

“It’s a good-natured challenge to get other cities to help out,” said Millhouse, referring to Oxnard and Camarillo, which have large sales tax generators -- an auto mall and large shopping center, respectively.

In Simi Valley, with a population of nearly 120,000, City Manager Mike Sedell allowed employees to make tax-free donations from unused vacation and sick days, which raised more than $18,000.

Additionally, the city permitted county firefighters to stage a fundraising drive on city streets that collected nearly $40,000.

A Cajun music festival, also last weekend, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Simi Sunrise brought in another $40,000.

But Simi Valley Mayor Paul Miller said rushing to spend taxpayer money on a good cause, no matter how worthy, may not be the best answer.

“We think we should just let the dust settle first,” he said. “And at that point, look at what we can do that is effective.”

Ventura Mayor Brian Brennan said his city of 105,000 should be able to find some surplus dollars to support local fundraisers, such as a charity dinner Saturday at a downtown restaurant that raised $27,000.