KIDS' NEEDS, HOSPITAL TOP CITY ISSUES.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer

For the five City Council candidates running for three open seats in the Nov. 6 election, hot topics include bringing in a regional hospital and creating more youth programs.

With 9,000 inhabitants in a 10-year-old city reaching build-out, Councilmen Iraj Broomand and Mark Rutherford square off against challengers Ron Klamert, Susan McSweeney and Bob Slavin. Two-term Councilwoman Kris Carraway-Bowman bowed out of this year's race.

``I bring ideas and experience and a manner of making sure that work is done collaboratively,'' said Broomand, 69, a licensed psychologist and 21-year resident of the community - before and after cityhood. ``I think the most important achievement has been the joining of four cities with my efforts on the hospital.''

Officials in Westlake Village and neighboring cities are trying to attract an acute-care hospital with an emergency room to replace Westlake Medical Center, which closed in 1996. It was an issue that also surfaced in the 1999 council race.

Broomand, elected in 1997, said his efforts to include the community in council decision-making and to create a collaborative relationship with neighboring cities - for more clout - have come to fruition, and he wants to study diversifying the city's tax base and bringing in an express busway on the Ventura Freeway to reduce traffic congestion.

``I want us to start doing senior programs and expand our youth programs,'' said Mayor Rutherford, a 47-year-old mediator who moved to the city in 1994. ``I think we need to continue with park development, both active and passive, ... and take steps to diversity the tax base so we are not heavily dependent on sales tax and Sacramento in respect with income.''

Rutherford said two of the goals he ran on in 1997 - to stop leasing space for a city hall and library and to develop more park space - are now reality.

The council has secured more playing fields for city sport groups under an agreement with Oaks Christian High School, a City Hall and library complex are being built, and Foxfield Park is being developed, he said.

While the incumbents touted their experience and accomplishments, such as putting more police officers on the streets, the challengers say they have skills to bring to the table, too.

``It's time for a change, for new people to make a difference,'' three- year resident Klamert said. ``The current City Council is fiscally irresponsible because they've built an unneeded and hugely unpopular City Hall. They are putting together beautification projects (fountains) that are unneeded and unwarranted.''

Klamert, 47, a vice president of production for an entertainment company, said he wants to buy more open space, stop unnecessary spending and to create programs for senior citizens and adolescents.

For the adolescents, ``I want to look at building a skate park or something to give them something to do,'' he said.

McSweeney, a 50-year-old teacher who operates a kindergarten enrichment program, said she wants to see more of a collaborative effort among cities. She said she already knows the council members from the surrounding cities and could immediately work with them.

``I bring a unique perspective as a woman and mother, working with so many families through the years,'' said the 12-year resident, married to a former captain at the Lost Hills sheriff's station who is now a commander in downtown Los Angeles.

Slavin, 43, a tax attorney, said he wants the city to preserve more open space, draw a local hospital to the East Conejo Valley and provide more recreational activities for residents through partnerships with nearby park and recreation districts.

``If I am elected, I will reach out to those people in the community who have not really been involved in local government,'' said Slavin, who has lived in the city for more than seven years.

``One of the ways to do that is form committees. By forming committees and recruiting interested people who are committed to a certain issue to work on a committee and make recommendations - that way they feel they have a part in the decision-making process.''