SANTA PAULA : City to Participate in Regional Council

The Santa Paula City Council narrowly agreed Monday to join a new regional council of governments to develop plans for air quality, transportation and housing.

In approving inclusion in the regional group, the council overcame doubts about the size of its annual dues and how much of a voice Santa Paula would have on the regional council.

With the vote, Santa Paula joins Ventura County and eight of the county’s 10 cities in supporting the regional body. Oxnard and Simi Valley are expected to consider joining the regional group later this month.

When the council is formed, each city and county supervisor will have one member on the board of directors. Each member would have one vote, except when voting to raise the budget to more than $200,000, said City Administrator Arnold Dowdy. In that case, the votes would be weighted by population, he said.

Santa Paula Councilman John Melton, who opposed the measure along with Councilman Les Maland, also criticized the regional body as an example of wasteful spending. “I don’t believe we need an additional layer of government, Melton said. “I think people are sick and tired of the government spending money.”

The county will pay for a third of the council of governments’ budget, with another third divided equally among the cities and the remaining third paid by all agencies on the basis of population.

The discussion that preceded Monday’s vote was the third time the Santa Paula council debated the merits of the new regional body.

The council sided with Dowdy, who said the city could not afford to remain on the sidelines while important regional issues are being discussed.

“In my opinion, it would not be prudent for us to be the only city on the outside looking in,” Dowdy said before the vote.