Push for all-elected board on sanitation district moves forward
By Sophia Fischer sfischer@theacorn.com

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors is seeking a change in state law that would make the Triunfo Sanitation District board of directors an all-elected body.

If approved, the change could be effective as early as November, according to Linda Parks, a Triunfo board member and Ventura County supervisor.

Currently, voters choose only two members of the Triunfo board. The other three seats are appointed.

Parks has long sought to change Triunfo to an all-elected body, but was been unable to obtain the necessary board support. Her only ally has been Chair Janna Orkney, who was voted onto the board in November 2006.

While James Acosta has been opposed to the idea, fellow boardmembers Ron Stark and Tom Glancy agreed to support the allelected board following a critical report last year by a Ventura County grand jury.

But the board still remains split on the issue because Glancy and Stark support bydistrict representation, while Parks and Orkney prefer an at-large election.

"The only way to do it is to change state law," Parks said. "From what I understand it's relatively easy."

Park said a "placeholder" or "spot bill" application was filed with the state on Jan. 25.

Such a change isn't without precedence, she said. In 2003, a bill filed with the Legislature altered the representative makeup of the Ventura County Transportation Commission.

Although he supports an allelected Triunfo board, Stark opposed the board of supervisors' bill.

"The (Triunfo) board never voted for it," Stark said. "You have chaos if every board member does what he or she wants to do."

Stark would like to see the sanitation board include representation from each of the areas it serves, including Oak Park, North Ranch, Bell Canyon, Lake Sherwood and parts of Thousand Oaks.

The board is scheduled to receive a staff report in March about the ramifications of being an allelected body, Stark said.

"The ultimate goal is to put Triunfo in its best possible position so that everyone is represented," he said. "I don't want to see smaller areas of the district disenfranchised."