Supervisors to Take Their Meeting on the Road

County supervisors are taking their show on the road, for the first time holding their regular meeting away from the County Government Center in Ventura.

On Tuesday, supervisors are set to gather in Fillmore’s new City Hall, part of an effort to take discussion of county government issues to the people, rather than expect the people to come to them.

Supervisors said they hope that the effort will make county government more understandable to people who don’t usually have the chance to see the board in action.

“That’s always been the problem, that people don’t know what the county does,” Supervisor Frank Schillo said. “Supervisor? What’s a supervisor? I get that all the time. They’re sending their tax dollars to a government they know nothing about.”

Supervisor Kathy Long, whose district includes Fillmore, said the meeting gives supervisors a chance to see Fillmore’s $2-million City Hall, which opened in December, and gives residents a chance to get up close and personal with the board.

Tuesday’s agenda includes three presentations geared to residents in the Santa Clara River Valley. They include a discussion by the California Highway Patrol on a deadly stretch of California 126, a report on a tourism marketing plan to promote Santa Paula and Fillmore, and an update on the massive Newhall Ranch housing project just across the Los Angeles County line from Piru.

“We tried to put issues on the agenda that are of local interest and hopefully bring some citizens in to tell us how they feel about them,” Long said. “It’s good citizen outreach.”

Although this is the only meeting scheduled outside the board’s usual venue at the County Government Center, supervisors say there are likely to be more in other parts of the county.

“I think we might get some invitations instead of inviting ourselves,” Long said.

Meanwhile, Schillo’s two-year effort to transmit the board’s meetings, via cable television, into county living rooms appears to be far more problematic.

In December, supervisors gave their conceptual blessing to the idea, but questioned who would pay the estimated $250,000 needed to purchase broadcasting equipment.

While he remains committed to the concept, Schillo said it has been difficult and time-consuming to negotiate agreements with the county’s 10 cities and seven cable providers to pick up live telecasts and commit time on access channel schedules.

“It’s really a nightmare,” Schillo said.

Tuesday’s meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. at Fillmore City Hall, 250 Central Ave.