ELECTIONS : Incumbent on Advisory Panel Faces 1st Challenge : Newcomer Kathy Sigafoos will oppose Thomas W. Jamison in the Ventura River Valley’s District 1 race.

A usually sleepy election is being stirred by a political newcomer who wants to give residents more say in the decisions of an advisory panel that forwards recommendations on local issues to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

Neither candidate competing for a seat in the Ventura River Valley Municipal Advisory Council’s 1st District plans to do much campaigning in the tiny community of Live Oak Acres near Oak View. And neither is likely to try to attract votes by spending money.

But Thomas W. Jamison, a 72-year-old retired manager with the Federal Aviation Administration, is adamant about hanging onto the seat he was appointed to six years ago. He had not faced an election fight previously because no one challenged him for the seat.

“I’m well-qualified, I’ve been on a lot of boards and done a lot of things since I retired,” said Jamison, who is seeking his third term.

“I pretty well know what’s going on,” he said.

His challenger, Kathy Sigafoos, a 50-year-old executive assistant in the Ventura County Public Works Department, is just as adamant about shaking things up on the advisory panel.

“Nobody else ever challenges the incumbent, and I think it’s time they were challenged,” Sigafoos said.

On Nov. 2, fewer than 900 voters will decide which candidate will assume the four-year term on the Municipal Advisory Council.

The five-member advisory panel meets sporadically--about once a month when a land-use application is submitted for consideration--and forwards its recommendation to county supervisors. Its jurisdiction stretches roughly from Meiners Oaks to Casitas Springs, excluding the city of Ojai, and reaches far into Los Padres National Forest.

Political newcomer Sigafoos, a mother of two who has lived in the Ojai Valley for 25 years, knows what she wants to see from the advisory board: better land-use planning and better communication between supervisors and the community.

“I don’t think residents get enough information about the (council),” she said. “People don’t know about the meetings.

“There’s got to be a better way to get the community there” so the council has a better idea of what the community wants, Sigafoos said.

Both Jamison and Sigafoos are registered Democrats.

The District 1 race is not the only seat up for election this fall.

Two other terms have expired, but no one other than the incumbents wanted the seats. In District 3, Mike Frees will run unopposed, and in District 5, Marjorie Emerson faces no challengers.

The two other seats were decided in 1991 and do not expire for two more years.

The panel represents just under 10,000 registered voters. But the contested seat--District 1--has just 889 registered voters, according to the county Elections Department.

“It’s only low-key campaigning,” Sigafoos said. “I don’t think it requires a lot of money.”

The Ventura River Valley MAC is an advisory-only panel that has no authority of its own. It funnels its recommendations to Supervisor Susan K. Lacey, whose district includes the Ojai Valley.

“We’re the eyes and ears of the supervisor,” Jamison said. “We can do a lot of the fieldwork and pass on our recommendation about the feasibility of a project.”

The council has tackled a handful of important issues in the recent past, including the proposed Weldon Canyon landfill as well as the Farmont Golf Resort.

The Ventura River Valley Municipal Advisory Council opposed both proposals and urged the Board of Supervisors to follow its lead. County supervisors later approved the golf course and denied the landfill.

“There have been very few instances when the council’s recommendation was not followed,” said Steve Offerman, a Lacey aide who serves as executive secretary to the council.

“Supervisor Lacey does consider their recommendations very seriously and considers their actions to be a fair representation of the sentiments of their jurisdiction,” he said.

The latest issue to confront the community is a proposal to build a Taco Bell restaurant directly off California 33 in Mira Monte, on property near an existing McDonald’s.

The initial application was delayed while the developer prepares an environmental assessment. The issue will probably be taken up again in December, Jamison said.

“We just have to make sure they’re in compliance with everything, and we don’t have all of the facts yet,” he said.

But Sigafoos said many people who may oppose the fast-food outlet were not even aware of the initial discussion.

“Attending that meeting and seeing people upset because they had not known about it made me feel better about running,” she said. “People are just not being made aware of something they can participate in and should be participating in.”