Residents Roundtable may be disbanded
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

The Residents Roundtable is on the chopping block.

The committee of residents, appointed by the City Council to serve two-year terms reviewing a wide range of topics, hasn't been effective for some time and is no longer necessary, according to Community Development Director John Prescott.

"We're going to be recommending the Roundtable be converted to an ad hoc committee," Prescott said.

City staff will ask the City Council on Feb. 20 to do just that because Thousand Oaks is trying to reduce the number, size and frequency of the city's citizen committees to cut costs, Prescott said.

The size of the Business Roundtable has already been reduced along with the frequency of their meetings, Prescott said.

Ad hoc committees are created for a specific purpose. They're terminated when that purpose has been accomplished. The standing committee is made up of residents who serve twoyear terms and address a variety of topics.

According to the city, the Residents Roundtable's purpose was to review "a wide range of council-approved residential topics and (make) recommendations to the City Council."

If there's no Residents Roundtable, the City Council will take applications and appoint ad hoc committee members for each specific issue for which an ad hoc committee is needed instead of asking for recommendations from a standing committee.

"I do not think appointing ad hoc committees will be more efficient," Residents Roundtable committee member Tom Ritch said. "Why should there be special committees formed or special meetings held to seek public input when that is, or should be, the purpose of the existing Residents Roundtable?"

Prescott pointed out the Residents Roundtable hasn't had a lot to do recently and has resorted to coming up with its own issues, which overlap with the purpose of the planning commission. This has created unnecessary extra work for city staff, who support the committee's needs.

Ritch said he noticed the City Council hasn't been asking the roundtable to review issues and give its input as often as they once did. In trying to keep the council aware of some of the things affecting residents, roundtable members have been coming up with their own issues, such as the concerns over day laborers, he said.

The retired molecular biologist said he thinks there's a better way to improve the process other than converting it to an ad hoc committee that will terminate as soon as the topics at hand are addressed.

Experienced committee members are familiar with the city's rules, regulations and protocol, Ritch said. Also, issues can be brought directly and immediately to an existing committee, he said.

"For an ad hoc committee, the issue must be recognized, then acknowledged as significant enough to deserve a committee, then a committee has to be approved, then members chosen, and then the committee members can begin to learn the constraints under which the city must deal with the issue," Ritch said. "How is that going to be more efficient?"

The council won't be forming many ad hoc committees since there are already other council-appointed resident groups in place that can provide the reviews and expertise the council needs, Prescott said.