FILLMORE : City May Withdraw From Trash District

The Fillmore City Council is considering withdrawing from the Ventura Regional Sanitation District in protest of the district’s proposal to expand neighboring Toland Road Landfill.

The council voted unanimously Tuesday night to direct its staff to gather information about what it would cost to abandon the district, which operates the landfill. The dump is situated off California 126 between Santa Paula and Fillmore.

“I want us to get out,” said Councilman Roger Campbell, who recommended withdrawing from the district. “We have to protect our own citizens. If Toland Road is expanded, we’re going to be held captive.”

Campbell is the city’s representative on the newly formed Western Ventura County Waste Management Authority, which also includes the county and the cities of Ojai and Ventura.

Members of the authority, formed in November to address west county trash disposal, agreed Monday to ask each of its jurisdictions to consider withdrawing from the sanitation district. The authority wants to explore other trash disposal options, including shipping outside the county.

The board of the Regional Sanitation District voted 5 to 4 last month to spend $770,000 on an environmental study of the proposed Toland Road expansion. The expansion would allow the dump to handle all west county trash after Bailard Landfill in Oxnard closes in 1997 or earlier.

Clint Whitney, general manager of the district, said cities should consider carefully the cost and liabilities they will assume if they withdraw their membership. Whitney noted that the district by law collects a small portion of property taxes from most county jurisdictions and, regardless of whether a city withdraws, would continue to do so.

Whitney said the district has already begun the environmental review process for the expansion and expects to have a draft report ready by September. He said district officials remain convinced that the Toland Road expansion is the best and cheapest alternative for disposing of west county trash.