Youth Council Puts Out Call to Fill 9 Spots

Heather Galles is not one to let a problem go unsolved. The 16-year-old Camarillo High School junior is active in school and her church, and as a member of the Camarillo Youth Advisory Council she has been trying to make the city a better place for youngsters.

“A lot of people say Camarillo’s a boring place to live. But it’s not. There is a lot to do here,” said Heather, who is completing a one-year term on the youth council. “I just thought I could help make things better or make people aware of what’s going on here.”

The 17-member youth council, established a year ago to advise the City Council, is now accepting applications for 12- through 18-year-olds who want to serve on the panel.

The group, which is seeking to fill nine seats, received a $2,000 grant from the city and in its first year adopted bylaws and a mission statement. Its first major event--a battle of the bands called “Crash, Band, Zowie”--was hailed as a success.

Currently, the group is surveying students throughout the city about a beach bus to take young people from Camarillo to the beach for a reduced rate.

Many young people also have asked that a skate park be built at Camarillo Airport and the advisory council is looking into it.

The youth advisory council meets once a month, with additional meetings scheduled for its committees and subcommittees. It must adhere to open-meeting laws, and members work closely with a variety of city departments.

“I think they’re learning there’s more to keep an organization going than thinking [that] making a few phone calls will do it,” said Chris Sanborn, a management assistant in the city manager’s office. “We’re all learning about how to get projects going. It’s a big responsibility.”

Heather, whose father Gary is an economics professor at Pepperdine, said the rewards are many, especially for those who want to see how an official body operates.

“I didn’t have any specific goals when I started doing this,” she said. “I’ve certainly gained a larger understanding of what’s going on. Working with an official organization, you see how the whole thing works.”

Among the lessons learned is that everyone has a different opinion on what the group should do, she said.

“Our mission statement is broad and it’s not very well defined on purpose so that we could do a lot of things,” Heather said. “Our problem has been that we wanted to solve every problem that the youth had. For an organization our size, that’s hard to do. It would require more of a full-time position.”

Heather said that being a member of the advisory council has been enjoyable.

“If I didn’t like it I wouldn’t be applying again,” she said.

Applications for the Camarillo Youth Advisory Council are available at City Hall, Camarillo Police Department and Camarillo Public Library, or by calling 388-5349.