From the Thousand Oaks Acorn:
By Andy Nguyen, andy@theacorn.com
Longtime American Youth Soccer Organization coach and referee Chuck Huffer is eager to kick off his first term as chair of the Conejo Recreation and Park District’s board of directors.
Huffer was selected chair by his fellow board members at their Dec. 17 meeting. The term lasts one year.
“I’m excited about doing this. I’ve been on the board now for 3 ½ years and had the chance to work with some really fine board members,” said Huffer, who takes over for departing chair Ed Jones.
A priority under his chairmanship will be the continued progress of Sapwi Trails, Huffer said.
Although the 145-acre park in the Lang Ranch area isn’t expected to fully open until 2018, a disc golf course and an area for flying motorless glider planes is planned to be in operation sometime in 2016.
In November the CRPD approved a contract amendment with San Luis Obispo-based RRM Design Group to begin drawing up construction plans for the parcel of land that’s bordered by Erbes Road, Avenida de Los Arboles and Westlake Boulevard. Once the park is completed it will include miles of multi use trails, a track for mountain bikes and a playground area.
“It is going to take awhile,” Huffer said. “One of my goals is to keep pushing and making progress on Sapwi.”
Park District General Manager Jim Friedl said the board chair is an “equal among five” whose vote is given the same weight as the other directors and doesn’t have any additional powers.
One of the biggest responsibilities of the chairmanship, in addition to overseeing the board meetings, is acting as the public face of the district at various events and activities.
“It’s a really a time consuming position as you’re expected to be at all sorts of places all the time on behalf of the district,” Friedl said.
Huffer said he looks forward to 2016 and believes the board will be able to accomplish many things in the coming year as they are a “very collegial group of people.”
“We don’t have any of the issues you occasionally see with the other elected bodies in the community,” he said. “It makes it easier to accomplish what we need to do if we’re working together instead of being at loggerheads with each other.”
Huffer and fellow CRPD director George Lange are up for reelection in November.
The first CRPD meeting of the new year will take place at 7 p.m. Thurs., Jan. 21.
Link to article: http://www.toacorn.com/news/2015-12-30/Community/Sapwi_Trails_a_priority_for_CRPD_chair.html