The Ventura City Council has selected retired City Manager Don Penman to serve on an interim basis as Ventura’s city manager. Penman retired in 2011 from the City of Arcadia after serving for 13 years. Since retirement, Penman served as interim city manager for Azusa, Covina, San Fernando and Temple City.

“I look forward to serving the public in Ventura and working with the City Council and staff in moving the city forward,” said Don Penman.

Mr. Penman will work in a limited term appointment while the recruitment process for a permanent city manager is completed.  City Manager Mark Watkins held the position until December 2017 when he retired, and Assistant City Manager Dan Paranick served as interim city manager until August 24, 2018, when he resigned to accept other employment. An interim city manager is needed to complete objectives established by city council.

Mr. Penman will serve for six months or until the new city manager assumes the position. There are no proposed benefits for Mr. Penman in accordance with CalPERS requirements.

Ventura residents can now easily reduce their household waste and become even better recyclers with Recycle Coach, an easy-to-use mobile app designed to take the guesswork out of recycling.  Citizens can quickly access local disposal information for thousands of household items by downloading the free app at the iTunes App Store and Google Play.

The City of Ventura offers a variety of convenient ways to recycle, such as curbside collection in the blue bin, free monthly Household Hazardous Waste events, authorized drop-off locations, quarterly community cleanup events for bulky items and shredding, and certified collection centers. Recycle Coach makes these waste reduction resources and other important information, right at users’ fingertips to improve recycling and diversion.

“Outreach and education are key to improve recycling,” said Deputy Mayor Matt LaVere. “This is another tool that will help our residents and businesses become greater stewards of the environment.”

Recycle Coach helps residents:

• Know when to put out recyclables and solid waste for curbside collection
• Receive collection reminders and real-time updates on potential service disruptions such as during holidays and emergencies
• Access useful recycling tips, tricks and tools to become recycling experts with local disposal information and collection requirements for common and uncommon items
• Use the problem-reporting tool, equipped with geolocation, to notify municipal customer services about issues like missed collections

Residents can access Recycle Coach from their desktop computers, mobile devices, or through digital assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

Fire Chief David Endaya, Fire Captain Lou Manzano, Firefighter/ Paramedic Hermès Carbajal , Fire Engineer Logan Hughes(peeking out) and Assistant Fire Chief Matt Brock at the launch of ME7.

On Tuesday August 7, at Fire Station 1, located at 717 N. Ventura Ave. the Ventura City Fire Department presented the official launch of Medic Engine 7 (ME7), the Department’s new 40-hour per week Roving All-Hazards Fire Engine Company.

ME7 is designed provide additional resources during peak incident hours and will be available to respond to all types of emergencies, provide station coverage, improve departmental training opportunities, and provide additional community risk reduction to the citizens of Ventura. The vehicle features roll-up, aluminium doors, not unlike roll-up gortite doors that are durable, space-efficient and secure; they are common on emergency vehicles such as this.

by Richard Lieberman

The City Council voted on July 9 to approve moving ahead with plans to open a year-round homeless shelter. The council voted 7-0 in favor of moving ahead with city and county officials in drafting terms of the proposal. The shelter will be located at 2323 Knoll Drive, a 4-story property owned by the county. The county would lease the space to the city for a possible $1.00 per year.

Ventura Count, City of Ventura, and Oxnard released a request for proposal looking for an operator to run shelters in both cities.

Plans for Ventura call for a 55-bed facility and flexibility to offer more in an emergency. The county has offered $600,000 toward the property and has agreed to offer more in operating costs. Amounts to be determined later depending on the cost to run it.

Members Christy Weir and Mike Tracy raised the question of the possibility of the county providing a larger share. “The county has a bigger budget and gets state funding for mental health and related services,” said Weir.

Tracy added “much of the county’s homeless population gets sent to Ventura because the jail, psychiatric facility and county medical center are all located in the city. This is a regional problem. They’re not Ventura’s homeless, added Tracy. Many council members said they want Ventura residents to get priority and had some doubts about how much the facility would cost the city. “ The city doesn’t have millions of dollars to do this.” Tracy said.

City and county staff are working to meet an ambitious timeline to open the facility within months. Supervisors expect to see a report on the buildings condition on July 17^th.

City Council adopted a resolution re-confirming the continuing existence of a local emergency and a local public health emergency. On December 4, 2017, the city experienced a devastating fire disaster in the city. The city’s Emergency Operations Center was activated at approximately 9:00 pm and a state of local emergency was declared by the City Manager as the Director of Disaster Services at 10.05 pm. On December 11, 2017 the city council adopted Resolution No. 2017-055 which confirmed the existence of a state of local emergency in the city. This action was required by the State Emergency Services Act for the emergency status to continue. It must be re-confirmed at least every thirty days thereafter until terminated.

The council reviewed an Update on Implementation of the Tertiary Treated Flows Consent decree, the Proposed Potable Reuse Project and State Water Interconnection. Kevin Brown, Ventura Water General Manager presented a report on provision of Ventura’s water supply. This report covers water supply augmentation and reliability, beneficial reuse of effluent, improvement of water quality and explanation of why use direct potable reuse water supply. Brown said, “In a nutshell this is about diversifying the city’s water supply.”

Council adopted a resolution authorizing the Ventura Water General Manager, to apply for, receive funds, enter into a cooperative agreement, and administer a grant for up to $9,868,544 for the 2018 Bureau of Reclamation WaterSMART Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse Projects. Reclamation project covers the reuse of potable water. Also authorizes the Ventura water General Manager, to act on behalf of the city to conduct all negotiations, execute and submit all documents including applications, agreements, amendments, and billing statements that may be necessary to accept these grants and complete the project under the grant.

The City of Ventura is seeking residents wishing to volunteer their time to serve on the Measure O Citizens’ Oversight Committee. The Committee’s responsibilities include review of the projected revenues and recommended expenditures for the funds generated by Measure O.

The members of the Committee are restricted to residents and registered voters of the City of Ventura at the time of their appointment and during their term of office. Members may not be an elected official or employee of the City of Ventura, or a dependent of either an elected official or employee.

There are 4 open positions, that will be appointed for terms of 4 years. In order to be considered, citizens must complete an application and have a brief interview with the City Council’s Appointments Recommendation Committee. Committee members will be required to file a Statement of Economic Interests (Form 700) disclosing all reportable interests held at the time of appointment and are required to attend ethics training every two years.

Applications are available online at www.cityofventura.ca.gov/935/Recruitments or from the City Clerk’s Office, Ventura City Hall, 501 Poli Street, Room 204. The application deadline is 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 31, 2018, and may be submitted by e-mail to [email protected], mailed to the City Clerk’s Office, 501 Poli, Room 204, Ventura, CA 93001, or hand-delivered to the City Clerk’s Office, Room 204 at City Hall.