Harwood has a plan to balance district's books
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

If he's elected in November to the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District board, Warren Harwood is ready with a plan to bring financial balance to the district.

Harwood-who holds a master's degree in public administration from UCLA-said he's gone over the budget and feels the No. 1 issue facing the district is cost reduction.

He said the board of directors must bring income into line with expenses or it won't be able to care adequately for the district's 27 parks.

"They've got problems," Harwood said. "They're going to have to find a way of doing things smarter and efficiently."

Operating costs-utilities, employee benefits and the like-continually rise. To offset such expenses, the district should use reclaimed water for landscaping, a cheaper alternative to regular drinking water, he said.

Underground dedicated reclaimed water lines would have to be installed. Harwood said the district could share the cost with community groups that would also use the water lines-the school districand homeowners associations, for example.

Warren Harwood

Harwood is concerned about how the district with come up with the money to develop the 55-acre sports park in the Village at the Park complex. He questions how responsibility fell to the district in the first place rather than the developer, D. R. Horton.

"I haven't seen any good solid prospects in getting it paid," he said. "It seems to me you've got to find that out before you assume the responsibility."

Harwood wants the district to have a reserve fund in place that would pay for regular maintenance and replacement of old equipment.

The district "needs to be run in a businesslike manner," he said.

His years of financial and administrative experience would be an asset the board needs, he said.

From the 1960s into the late 1980s, Harwood held a long list of city and county management positions, including city manager of San Jacinto (80 miles east of Los Angeles) and 12 years on the Long Beach City Council. He was also a deputy supervisor for Los Angeles County.

Harwood also holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from UCLA. He has worked as a teacher in Oxnard since 1998 and for the last three years he's served as a housing commissioner for the Area Housing Authority of Ventura County. Commissioners set policies and goals for the agency.

"My experience with Warren is, he's been pretty levelheaded. He listens," housing authority Executive Director Douglas Tapking said of Harwood.

"He brings experience," Tapking said. "He's also interested in his community."