Consultant Considered to Advise on Value of County Fire District : Thousand Oaks: Councilman wants to spend up to $10,000 for studies to help determine if the city should form its own department.

Positioning the city to withdraw from the county fire district as early as next summer, Thousand Oaks Councilman Frank Schillo announced Friday that he has negotiated a contract with a consultant to draft feasibility studies.

The City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to spend up to $10,000 from the taxpayer-supported General Fund to hire Bob Braitman, a Ventura-based consultant who has years of experience in county government and budget analysis.

Although he did not advertise the search for a consultant or solicit other bids, Schillo said he feels comfortable recommending Braitman as “the right person for the right job at the right price.”

No other council members were available for comment on Friday.

If hired, Braitman would try to determine just how much money Thousand Oaks taxpayers pour into the Ventura County Fire Protection District--and how many services they receive in return.

“It’s very important not to have any preconceptions, and I don’t,” said Braitman, who charges $125 an hour. “I want to keep all my options open.”

Led by Schillo, city officials have frequently complained that their constituents’ tax dollars subsidize fire-protection services elsewhere in the county. Schillo estimates that Thousand Oaks could save millions of dollars a year by running an independent fire department.

In response, county fire chiefs have repeatedly emphasized the benefits of pooling firefighting resources in a single, unified team. The fire district’s administrative office was closed Friday and officials could not be reached for comment.

Earlier this year, Simi Valley expressed interest in teaming up with Thousand Oaks to form a joint, city-managed fire department. But when the county fire district evaded serious budget cuts, Simi Valley’s leaders stopped talking about secession.

Still, Simi Mayor Greg Stratton said Friday that he would “watch with interest” the results of Thousand Oaks’ study. Yet he doubted his colleagues would be interested in funding half the consulting fee.

“(Schillo) has all my mental encouragement, but I don’t think we’re interested in putting any money into it,” Stratton said. “I do think they’re smart to go ahead and look at it. From a Thousand Oaks perspective, (the consultant) is a reasonable expenditure.”

If his contract is approved, Braitman would work extensively with staff from the city’s finance department and the county fire district.

Among his tasks would be to evaluate whether the district could remain viable without financial support from the county’s richest city. He will also look at whether Thousand Oaks should form its own blaze-battling unit and then contract with the county for specialized services, such as helicopter searches and hazardous material recovery.

Before leaving the fire district, which covers the unincorporated county plus every city except Ventura and Oxnard, Thousand Oaks would have to obtain permission from the Local Agencies Formation Commission, or LAFCO.

Braitman served as an executive officer of LAFCO for 18 years, until quitting in the fall of 1991 to form his own consulting firm. He also worked for the county’s chief administrative officer, analyzing the fire district’s budget. That background made him an ideal choice as a consultant, Schillo said.

“There’s no one else like him around,” Schillo said, explaining why he did not think it necessary to solicit bids from other consultants. “Also, we don’t have a lot of time to waste.” The city must submit secession plans to LAFCO by Jan. 1 in order to withdraw from the district next summer.