ELECTIONS / CONEJO PARK DISTRICT : Challengers for 3 Board Seats Hope to Mirror Incumbents’ Successes

The toughest challenge for the five candidates running for the Conejo Recreation and Park District board of directors is gaining notice in a community that already registers almost complete satisfaction with its park district.

Even more than with the sheriff’s and fire departments, people in Thousand Oaks are happy with their park system--89.5% of respondents in the 1994 Conejo Valley attitude survey saying they are very or moderately satisfied with the district.

That level of satisfaction has left the candidates barely a shred of controversy to campaign on, and that, they say, is just fine with them.

“The board has done a very good job and I want to see that maintained,” said businesswoman Susan Holt, 52, who is campaigning for her first term.

Three park district seats are on Tuesday’s election ballot.

Park board directors meet twice a month and are paid $100 per meeting. They oversee a system of 31 developed parks in Agoura, Thousand Oaks and Westlake. The district also shares administration with Thousand Oaks of 11,000 acres of open space.

Two incumbents, Dennis Gillette and Mike Berger, are running for new four-year terms.

The power of incumbency on the Conejo park board is strong enough that Berger and Gillette were unchallenged until Director Mike Wooden announced he would not seek reelection because he is leaving the area.

At that point, three challengers joined the race: Holt; Jeff Alexander, 49, the owner of a pet and livestock supply store in Thousand Oaks, and Ronald Ruef, 39, a salesman for Morton Salt.

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“Both Dennis and Mike have done a great job, so I don’t feel like I’m running against them,” Holt said.

Berger, 47, principal at a Moorpark middle school, has been on the park board for 10 years. He was first appointed to fill a vacant position in 1984 and has been reelected twice.

“I think there is a high level of satisfaction with the job that the district is doing,” Berger said. “I didn’t mean that to sound holier than thou, but we have a great staff and that makes our jobs much easier.”

Gillette, 55, has been on the board for seven years, since being appointed to fill an unexpired term and twice winning reelection. He is vice president for administrative services at Cal Lutheran University.

“We seldom have controversial issues,” Gillette said. “The board seldom turns over, and as a result, there is a great deal of cooperation and mutual respect that exists among board members.”

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Both Berger and Gillette said the biggest problem they face as directors concerns budget constraints. As a special district funded by property taxes, the park district has seen its $9-million operating budget drained by a state shift in funding to school districts.

“We’ve been through two years of difficult times,” Gillette said. “What I’m trying to do is everything I can to maintain the current level of services we have, come out the other side of this budget crisis and start improving services.”

Berger said building new parks on existing district land has been hampered by $900,000 in state cuts in the past two years. Additionally, 75% of the district’s $391,000 annual construction budget is used to meet access requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, he said. He said he would step up cooperative efforts with area businesses and volunteers to improve services.

Despite the budget cuts, the Conejo district has won two major awards in the last month: It was named top park district in the state by the California Assn. of Recreation and Park Districts and one of four finalists for the National Gold Medal Award by the National Recreation and Park Assn.

Ruef, who served as an appointed commissioner on the Long Beach Parks and Recreation Commission for five years before moving to Newbury Park last year, said he wants to take an aggressive approach to upgrading parks and replacing outdated equipment.

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He said he would support an effort to build a new sports facility in the Conejo Valley. Softball and soccer fields are too crowded, he said, particularly with players in adult leagues.

“In Long Beach we raised money for a sports complex by the evil word--a bond ,” Ruef said. “I know how to do these things. I’ve got ways. I’ve done it.”

Holt, who has been executive director of the summer Oakleaf Music Festival for eight years, said she would bring diverse interests and ideas to the board.

“I am interested in the arts, but I’ve also been involved with youth sports,” said the 14-year resident of Thousand Oaks. “What I’m campaigning on is the fact that I do have a balance of interests.”

Holt, who was a member of the first class at Harvard Business School to admit women 25 years ago, owns a temporary employee service in Thousand Oaks. She was recently elected to the board of Under One Roof, a nonprofit collective of social service agencies in Thousand Oaks.

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Alexander, who has lived in Thousand Oaks for 22 years, is chairman of the Conejo Open Space Trails Advisory Committee. An avid horseman who has been involved with the group Equestrian Trails Inc., he said he supports use of trails by horses, bikes and hikers.

Expanding current services is the district’s biggest need, he said. And he suggests seeking help from corporations and volunteers to help the park through its budget crisis.

“Every individual group has particular needs,” he said. “These needs have been identified. But for lack of money, they have not been able to proceed.

“The community is growing, and we need to ensure that the parks department services those people,” he said. “I believe the parks provide the breathing space for citizens.”