By Chamber Chair Stacy Miller
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Drinking establishments are not what they used to be. 

In 2019, many of them, like craft breweries, seek to be family-friendly places of business. They not only serve craft beer, but also cater to families by providing a family-friendly atmosphere and activities for kids, like food trucks and board games. 
 
This is the case with two local establishments that reached out to the City of Oxnard and the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce, requesting assistance with lifting a regulation that prohibited anyone under 21 from entering.  (This applied to craft breweries without a kitchen.)

The craft brewery business-model focuses on providing a family-friendly environment where mom and dad can enjoy a cold one at the end of the day, while their children play safely nearby. Unfortunately, in Oxnard, unlike other neighboring cities, there was a regulation that prohibited people under 21 to accompany an adult to a craft brewery.

Who are the people, businesses and organizations powering Oxnard into the future? For their final session of 2019, Oxnard Leadership Program participants spent "Energy Day" meeting with industry experts to gain a better understanding on local energy sources and how Oxnard residents and businesses will be impacted in the near future. 

The day was organized by Amy Fonzo, Manager of External Relations at California Resources Corporation and an Oxnard Chamber Board Member. Joining the group throughout the day were Chamber Board Member Celina Zacarias and Justin Campbell, who graduated from the program in 2018. 

The group then traveled to ​Southern California Edison's Ventura Office where Government Relations Manager Rondi Guthrie gave a timely presentation on SCE’s wildfire mitigation plans. 

After a delicious lunch at The Patio at Player's Casino, their next stop was the Ventura County Government Center. There, they met with Heather Allen, Program Administrator of the Ventura County Regional Energy Alliance, for an overview of their mission and goals for reducing energy demand and increasing energy efficiencies. Heather also gave the team an overview of the county’s solar carport.

Their final stop was at the California Oil Museum in Santa Paula where they met with Suzanne Noble. She is Director of Production Operations with Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and gave a presentation on the past, present and future of oil and gas production. ​

Every year, the Oxnard Leadership Program leads participants through 10 unique, day-long experiences to develop a better understanding and appreciation of the past, present and future for Oxnard and the surrounding area. Each session includes visits to multiple locations and meeting business and government leaders who play integral roles in the region.

Applications are being accepted for the Class of 2020. Learn more about the Oxnard Leadership Program and apply before November 22.

A Message From Our CEO Nancy Lindholm

The Oxnard Chamber's Board of Directors and Political Action Committee have both voted to oppose five local measures currently being circulated for signature gathering in our community. The Board believes each and every measure will have a negative impact on city operations, should voters pass them.

Here are summaries and excerpts from the proposed initiatives. This is not the exact language of each initiative.

Term Limits for the Mayor and Councilmembers; Extension of the Mayor's Term
This initiative would impose term limits on the Mayor and members of the City Council. The proposed initiative states that once a person has served as the Mayor and/or as a member of the City Council for two consecutive terms or a combination of full and partial terms totaling seven consecutive years, that person could not be elected or appointed to be the Mayor or a member of the City Council. That prohibition would remain in effect for two consecutive years before becoming eligible again. This initiative would also change the length of time of the Mayor's term from two years to four years starting on November 8, 2022.

Early Termination of Measure O Sales Tax; Extension of Measure O Sales Tax
This initiative ties the condition of the city's streets and alleys to the Measure O Sales tax. It uses the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) to measure pavement. The proposal states:

• PCI of at least 65 on or before September 30, 2022 or Measure O would expire on March 31, 2023
• PCI of at least 70 on or before September 30, 2024 or Measure O would expire on March 31, 2025
• PCI of at least 75 on or before September 20, 2026 or Measure O would expire on March 31, 2027
• PCI of at least 80 on or before September 30, 2028 or Measure O would expire on March 31, 2029

Measure O is currently set to expire March 31, 2029. Under this initiative, the City Council would have the ability to extend the termination date of Measure O starting on April 1, 2028 for an additional five-year period if an outside civil engineer consultant finds that the PCI for the city-owned streets and alleys was at least 80.

Expansion of Duties of Elected City Treasurer By Appointing the City Treasurer as Director of Finance and Giving the City Treasurer Additional Duties
City regulations currently provide for a Director of Finance to be responsible for city financial reporting, fiscal and accounting duties, budget management, grants, and risk management. The elected City Treasurer performs statutory duties assigned under state law and duties assigned by the City Manager. Under this proposed initiative, the City Treasurer's existing duties would continue and be expanded to include:

• Designated as Director of Finance and would assume all statutory duties of the Director of Finance.
• Supervise Finance Department employees and have authority over the Finance Department.
• Design, implement and oversee an internal control system to safeguard assets, ensure financial statement reliability, promote operational efficiency and encourage compliance with applicable laws and City Council directives. Although the City Council could establish additional financial controls, the initiative prohibits imposition of such controls if they would undermine the authority of the City Treasurer (acting in the role of Finance Director).
• Select and oversee an internal auditor who would not be a city employee. The internal auditor would conduct internal control reviews, compliance audits and performance audits.
• Implement a program that would include monthly reports published online of city expenditures, including supporting invoices, purchase orders, submitted bids and solicitations for bids.
• Submit monthly financial reports itemizing: monthly and fiscal year-to-date revenues and expenses with comparisons to budgets and historical amounts for specific funds; estimated changes in fund balances for specific funds; and cash receipts and disbursements in excess of $10,000.
• Establish performance measurements for each city department, with separate performance measurements based on cost, quality and timelessness. Reports on measurements would be prepared monthly and submitted to the City Clerk, with copies to the City Council.
• Submit a proposed operations and capital budget to the City Council for the next fiscal year. The City Manager is currently responsible for submitting annual budgets to the City Council.

The proposed initiative also requires the City Manager and the City Attorney to cooperate with and be responsive to requests for administrative services and information made by the City Treasurer. City Treasurer's reports to the City Council are to indicate if the City Manager and the City Attorney have hindered or supported the City Treasurer's fulfillment of the Treasurer's responsibilities under state law and the Oxnard City Code (as amended by the initiative).

New Requirements Regarding the Way in Which City Council Meetings, Council Committees and Other City Legislative Bodies Are Run
City meetings are subject to the Brown Act. This initiative would impose specific new local regulations regarding the way in which the meetings of the city legislative bodies are run.

• Roberts Rules of Order – This initiative would require that the latest version of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised govern subject to certain exceptions the way the city's legislative bodies (including City Council and Council Committees) are run. In addition, the city would be required to use the services of a Professional Registered Parliamentarian.
• Allowed Start Time for Meetings – This initiative would require with certain exceptions that meetings of the city's legislative bodies could not start before 5 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. on weekends.
• Pre-Taping of Staff Presentations – The proposed initiative would require that staff presentations for City legislative bodies must be videotaped in advance. Such videotape must be available for viewing at City Hall at the time of posting of the agenda for the meeting.
• Public Comments – This initiative adds the requirement that each person shall have no less than three minutes to comment on an agenda item at a meeting. This requirement will apply even if the matter has been considered at a prior committee composed exclusively of members of the City Council. In addition, the city will be required to make reasonable accommodations to allow for presenters to present video, PowerPoints and similar presentations during public comments.

Expedited Processing of Certain City-Issued Development Permits
This initiative would add a new chapter to the Oxnard City Code that would set up a streamlined permit review and approval process for certain projects that meet specific criteria. The initiative calls for the city to develop a training program for specified licensed professionals (architects and civil engineers) in order to file project plans with the city.

• Under this initiative, City Building Officials would need to notify applicants (including the trained professionals) of any project plans corrections within one day of accepting the project application. Any projects rejected would also require notification within one day.
• If it is determined that all the requirements on a project have been met, the Building Official is to issue a permit for the project.
• The proposed initiative includes procedures for auditing plans that have been submitted into the program. If issues are discovered, then the professional who has been trained in the program can be issued a warning and eventually suspended from the program or permanently removed.

The five ballot initiatives were drafted and brought forth by Aaron Starr, an unsuccessful candidate for city council and mayor. Mr. Starr was also the proponent of the attempted recall of the mayor and city council members that triggered a special election for Oxnard voters in 2018.
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The Chamber will continue to follow the progress of these measures as they are filed with voter signatures, the signatures are verified, and (if applicable) which ballot they will appear on.

By Chamber Chair Stacy Miller 

My professional mentor, a long-time city manager, loved to share his favorite story about good planning. It involved “The Seven Generation Stewardship,” a concept that urges the current generation of humans to live and work for the benefit of the seventh generation (140 years) into the future. The Seven Generation Stewardship principle is believed to have originated with the Iroquois Indians and encourages this forward thinking in all decisions, resulting in a sustainable world, seven generations into the future.
 
I was reminded of this story during a recent presentation from Oxnard City Manager Alex Nguyen, who spoke of “Moore’s Law,” a computing term that originated around 1970. The simplified version of this law states that processor speeds, or overall processing power for computers, will double every two years.
 
Alex was referring to Intel’s chips which have improved performance a factor of 3,500 since they were introduced, reflecting a 90,000-times improvement in energy efficiency and at one-60,000th of the cost.
 
Had a 1971 Volkswagen Beetle undergone the same transformation, it would now travel at 300,000 miles per hour, achieve two million miles per gallon, and cost four cents. Wow!

Moore’s Law became a guiding light for an industry. Moore’s original article also envisioned a future for cheaper, more powerful semiconductors. He envisioned PCs, cell phones, self-driving cars and electronic wristwatches—all powered by ever-improving chips.
 
Both the Seven Generation Stewardship concept and Moore’s Law demonstrate the importance of true forward-planning and efficiency.

Alex’s point, however, hits a little closer to home. Like many of us, Alex is very concerned that today’s workforce is ill-prepared for tomorrow’s jobs, which as he points out, are here now.
 
Here in Oxnard, one of the top issues we hear from employers is a lack of trained and educated workers. There are local jobs waiting to be filled and employers are frustrated with the lack of candidates applying that just don’t meet the necessary criteria for the jobs. For the first time in our country, there are more job openings than there are eligible workers to fill them.
 
So how did we get here? There are several trends that have contributed to this. One of these is “The Silver Tsunami,” whereby 45% of the current workforce will be retiring and/or leaving the workforce within the next decade.

Another trend is the growth of the temporary worker. The rise of temporary workers is a workforce trend that’s here to stay and there are predictions that 40% of the workforce will be contingent on temporary workers by 2020.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, temporary workers make up 19% of all new jobs in the U.S. By 2020, more than 40 percent of the U.S. workforce are expected to be temporary or contingent workers.
 
Just these two trends alone—people leaving the full-time workforce and the growing number of temporary workers--are big contributors to our lack of adequate, qualified employees.
 
According to "The Atlantic," it’s estimated that the U.S. economy will need as many as 100,000 new information technology workers every year for the next decade. By 2026, there will be 2.6 million new jobs in healthcare, one-fifth of all new jobs. The changing demand for specific skills is being felt across industries and, as a result, companies and organizations are investing in programs that empower the workforce of the future through job retraining.
 
So, what is being done locally and around the country? 

• The City of Oxnard has partnered with Oxnard College and the Oxnard Chamber to create a pipeline of Oxnard-resident employees to Oxnard employers. The primary goal is to realign the existing resources that provide the necessary training and education into a streamlined, direct path between residents and employers. The effort is not looking to create a new organization or layer of bureaucracy, rather the city will work with its partners to provide the resources necessary to expedite the Oxnard Employee Pipeline.
• The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp offers training on future-looking skills in areas such as augmented and virtual reality. 
• Jewish Vocational Services in San Francisco is training people in the fields of health care, financial services and more, and is working with regional banks to help workers prepare for jobs as tellers and customer service representatives.
• Tennessee Reconnect is a statewide initiative to help more adults enter higher education, whether that means finishing previously abandoned degrees or starting entirely new ones.

​But many workers are finding that job retraining alone is not enough. Support networks and social services are needed to support the transition to new types of work.
 
What else is being done here in Oxnard and Ventura County? I would love to hear from you! Please email me your thoughts and ideas at: stacy@stacymillerpa.com.