East Ventura Community Council
Minutes, March 16, 2023 General Meeting via Zoom

There were 3 Board Members in attendance, Norene Charnofsky, John Kunsmiller, Sara Ostrander

There were 18 attendees, including 1 city government representatives

The meeting was called to order at 7:04 pm by presiding officer Sara Ostrander.

The police report was given by Commander Ryan Weeks of the Ventura City Police Department. There were 9

reported incidents in District 4 & 5 from February 13 to March 12. They included 2 thefts, 3 assaults, 2 thefts from a

vehicle, 1 commercial theft, and 1 homicide. The assaults and homicide were all domestic violence related and the

homicide suspect is in custody. The number of incidents is likely down due to consistent rainy weather.

Commander Weeks also showed us the UCR Crime Stats from 2017 – 2022 which compares crime over the time span

and with other Ventura County Cities. Overall the Part 1 crimes are trending downward in the city of Ventura.

However, when compared to other cities, our crime rate per 1,000 is the highest. (He speculated that some larcenies

and other crimes might be under reported in some localities.) He stated that fentanyl overdoses are “through the

roof” everywhere. He also mentioned that most crimes are committed by repeat offenders. He answered a question

about the recent weather related events and noted that there was 1 death in the riverbed because they could not

find the victim on the initial search, but all agencies attempted to clear the flood prone areas.

The minutes of the February 16th meeting were approved.

The Treasurer’s report was given and accepted. There was $595.00 received since last month from 8 members. Our

current balance is $1450.66. Our projected expenses are $2079 so we are still $1098 short. (Reminder: There is a

$500.00 minimum balance requirement.)

The descriptions for the current open officer roles were reviewed. There was an opportunity for nominations or

volunteers for Chair, Vice-Chair, and Treasurer, but there were none received.

There was no guest speaker because the current officers did not have a chance to search for someone.

The meeting was opened for discussions. We discussed making our tri-fold flyer available to everyone so they could

print and talk about membership to others. (Jim Nicholl and his wife made the flyer.) Dean Katz and Jim agreed to

help and have their e-mails added. We want to request that the council members add a link to the flyer to their

website.

We discussed the problem of in-person vs. online meetings because some members want to resume in-person

meetings and some do not. We decided to add the question to the next agenda. Many suggestions were made

about possible locations for the meetings.

Dean Katz would like to attend our Board Meetings. He is not eligible to be one the board until 4/23/23. He would

like to consider the Vice-Chair role with focus on membership.

Ideas for fundraisers were discussed, but no action was taken. Dean Katz suggested that we should reach out to

more segments of the city government and other stakeholders to attend our meetings

The meeting was adjourned at 8:03 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Sara Ostrander, Secretary