CONEJO VALLEY: THOUSAND OAKS CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS IN FRONT OF PACK.

Byline: Grace Lee Staff Writer

THOUSAND OAKS - Thousand Oaks City Council incumbents Dennis Gillette, Dan Del Campo and Andy Fox appeared headed for new four-year terms, while the race to replace Councilwoman Linda Parks was too close to call.

Randy Hoffman and slow-growth slate candidate Bob Wilson were locked in a close race to fill the last two years of the term of Parks, who was elected to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors. Don Morris also was vying for that seat.

In the Conejo Valley Unified School District contest, the three incumbents Mary Jo Del Campo, Tim Stephens and Pat Phelps were leading in their bids for re-election.

Incumbents Joe Gibson, Michael Berger and Susan Holt were leading challengers in the Conejo Recreation and Park District race. In the City Council race, where ``slow growth'' had been the dominant campaign refrain, incumbent Dan Del Campo blamed a slow-growth slate for ``one of the more negative campaigns I've seen run.''

His apparent re-election, he said, was a victory for the community, and that voters had seen that the city already was a ``model for slow growth up and down the state.''

Gillette, Dan Del Campo and Fox had faced challengers Claudia Bill-De La Pena, Michael Farris, Laura Lee Custodio, Rick Daniel Velasquez, David Seagal and David Sams for the three four-year seats.

Farris, Custodio and Bill-De La Pena were candidates on the Certified Slow-Growth Slate.

Incumbents in the City Council race had defended their records on controlling the city's development while challengers, especially slate members, asked voters to distinguish between slow-growth rhetoric and their actual commitment.

Members of the slow-growth slate attacked incumbents' commitment to preserving the city. Farris, a former planning commission member who now manages a graphics company, advocated protection of the city's ridgelines by requiring voter approval for any further development.

In the school district race, local control, funding and safety dominated candidates' priorities for the district, which includes Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park and Westlake Village.

Returning incumbent Mary Jo Del Campo said she believed voters supported her because of her experience on the board.

``My goals are to work on bringing a Boys & Girls Club to the middle school and to bring a fifth middle school to the city,'' she said.

Facing the school board members were Sydney Stein, 59, a retired teacher, and Joel S. Wyenn, 53, a private investigator.

The Conejo Unified School District comprises 27 schools and had an enrollment of 20,999 students last year. An additional 9,000 students attended adult school.