Council members at odds over landfill advisory committee
By Kyle Jorrey kjorrey@theacorn.com

City Councilmember Glen Becerra used the final five minutes of his public comments Monday to express his displeasure over news that fellow council member Barbra Williamson is planning to form her own ad hoc advisory committee to oversee Waste Management Inc.'s plans to expand the Simi Valley Landfill.

Williamson announced her intention to form the committee, independent of the City Council, two weeks ago, just one week before Waste Management submitted its application to Ventura County seeking to double the size of the landfill from 185 acres to 371 acres.

Williamson denied that inside information had anything to do with her near-perfect timing.

"It was incredible," she said. "But that's just what happens sometimes. It's like poker- sometimes you've got to know when to fold 'em, and sometimes you take a chance and go for it and it works out in your favor."

But clearly the council member's play did not sit well with Becerra, who spoke at Monday's meeting without mentioning Williamson by name.

"I read a news story about a committee that's being set up to oversee and speak on behalf of the residents on that expansion," Becerra began. "To me, and maybe I took it too strongly, but I took that as a real slap in the face to this council. As council members, we were all elected equally to look out for this community."

Becerra stated that he believed the proper way to get the public involved in discussions about the landfill expansion was through the Neighborhood Councils, not through a six-person committee that Williamson has said she will select herself. He brought up the city's work with the community on Santa Susana Field Laboratory concerns as "a perfect example."

"That's the proper approach to take to overseeing this project that will have an impact on this community," Becerra said. "It doesn't allow for six people to give their opinion; it allows for the whole community to give their opinion."

The council member concluded by saying he's all for public participation, just not the kind that Williamson is proposing.

"I'm fully supportive of the most aggressive public participation we can get, but I think it needs to be representative of the whole town. . . . We should put it through the process that exists today," Becerra said.

Though she didn't respond publicly to the comments at Monday's meeting- despite the fact that her comments portion directly followed Becerra's- Williamson spoke with the Acorn on Wednesday, saying that her colleague's criticism wasn't going to deter her plans for the committee.

"Honestly, I could care less what 'they' think. If the truth comes out, that's the most important thing," Williamson said.

When asked if she was caught off guard by Becerra's public criticism of her proposed committee, Williamson said she wasn't.

"Glen always grandstands. It's typical. I expected nothing less," she said, adding that Becerra's disdain for the committee comes from the fact that "it wasn't his idea."

"All of a sudden he's against it. He should get aboard what is best for the residents of Simi Valley. Period," she stated.

Williamson stated two weeks ago that the purpose of her committee would be to gather facts and listen to the concerns of residents before the possible landfill growth proposal- now in the hands of the county Board of Supervisors- went forward.

She reiterated that point Wednesday, stopping short of saying whom she would select to serve on the committee but promising to make the list public once it is finalized.

"I'm not against the landfill expanding. I just want to know what they're doing; I don't want to be fed a bunch of corn syrup," she said. "I want a group that is educated enough to go through the plan item by item on what they plan on doing and how they plan on implementing it."

When asked if she thought people would be troubled by the fact that she'd be selecting the people to sit on this board herself, Williamson replied, "I was elected by the residents of Simi Valley. If they don't like the things I do, they don't have to elect me."

Responding to her postmeeting comments, Becerra told the Acorn that he felt it was Williamson who was doing the grandstanding.

"To me, grandstanding isn't responding to an issue. Grandstanding is filing a press release talking about how you're going to save the world," Becerra said.

The council member said the reason he spoke up at Monday's meeting "was not personal."

"I believe this is an issue that affects the whole community. It's bigger than six people chosen by one council member," he said.