MOORPARK LETTER POLICY COULD END.

Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer

The suggestion that council members no longer need give other council members copies of mail they send out on city stationery has some residents up in arms.

Mayor Pat Hunter and Council member Chris Evans call the proposed change a step to save both paper and time. Opponents call it a move that could reduce accountability by removing an important check on council members.

Council members' letters - whether thank-you notes or missives opposing a development project - are automatically copied and sent to each council member. Although a letter from one council member may be signed by an individual, the names of all council members are included on the letterhead. The change suggests that as a paper-saving measure, letters would simply be filed in each council member's public, chronological file.

Some critics say the new policy would make it more difficult and time-consuming for council members to check each other's mail. Harsher critics say the policy encourages secrecy and a behind-closed-doors style of governing.

``I cannot understand why anyone on the council would need to send a letter that other council members don't know about,'' said Eloise Brown, a former Moorpark councilwoman. ``What they do is public business, and every letter they send out on City Council stationery is a public document. . . . If a matter is not city business, if it's personal and confidential, it shouldn't go out on city stationery.''

The change was one of several suggested by Evans and Hunter during a yearly and routine review of council procedures, and the council will vote on it Wednesday night. Hunter had suggested a similar change two years ago, but it was shot down by a 4-0 vote.

This time around, Hunter and Evans both argue that the suggestion has nothing to do with the desire to do business in secret, but with a need to streamline city business and save paper.

``Each council member sends pages and pages of correspondence each week. We get between 50 and 100 pieces of paper in our boxes every day, and on Fridays when the agenda comes out, that goes up to about 500 pages,'' Evans said. ``What's the use of making five copies of everything and sending it around? This is not about being secretive; it's about saving time. Do I really need to see 17 copies of thank-you letters the mayor sent out?''

Evans and Hunter also remind critics that each letter would still be placed in the council member's chronological file: a public file containing every piece of correspondence, with the most recent letter first.

``Critics say we all need to keep an eye on each other. I say that's paranoid,'' Evans said. ``If you are really worried, you can always go in and check the chronological file.''

Though the current policy may seem wasteful, it is one that is followed in every city in the county, and some cities have greater restrictions about the appropriate use of official city stationery.

``I have never seen a letter go out on city stationery that was not first approved by the entire council, usually in a public meeting,'' said Santa Paula Mayor Robin Sullivan. ``Whether it's official policy or not, that's what we do. The letterhead has the names of all the council members. . . . You could be misleading the recipient of a letter if you sent it out on stationery without the full council knowing about it. They might assume that the whole council agrees with the content of the letter.''

Hunter counters that both official letter recipients and those who receive less formal correspondence understand the difference between a city position letter and letters outlining an individual council member's position.

``I can't take a position on behalf of the council without approval of each member, and that's certainly not the intent here,'' Hunter said. ``There are times when I write a letter stating my individual position, but I believe that it is clear that that is my position and not the position of the entire council. That's also true when council member (John) Wozniak or council member (Bernardo) Perez send out a letter that does not support my views.''

Wozniak disagreed with Hunter and felt that not all could make that distinction.

``If a council member sends a letter out on an issue, I also want to get the heads up in case people call me about it,'' he said. ``A letter might go out that I have no knowledge of, and the next thing you know people are calling me, and I have no idea what they're talking about.

``But the larger problem with this idea is that it gives the public the impression that we are trying to hide something - and even though I don't believe that that's the intention here, I don't think we can afford to make that impression.''