Peter Foy's most ambitious project to date on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors is moving toward a summer resolution that could save the county tens of thousands of dollars a year.

The process — a review of the county's 63 appointed boards and commissions — has already taken more than a year. It was slowed a bit over the winter, when Foy made the first political misstep of his young career.

As part of the review, he sent a survey to the members of some of the appointed bodies. The problem was that Foy, who represents Simi Valley, Moorpark and Somis, went directly to members of boards like the Oak View Municipal Advisory Council, without consulting the supervisors who represent those areas.

It was a breach of protocol on an often territorial board. Foy was chastised by the other supervisors during a board meeting and sent each one a note of apology.

"I would say that's due to inexperience, but it did concern me a little," Supervisor John Flynn said. "I think he handled it much better after that."

Now Foy's project is back on track, with a series of votes coming this summer that could see the board withdraw from two regional boards and dissolve or cut back two county-controlled boards.

If the board takes the most extreme possible action and gets rid of all of those committees, it will save $98,400 a year.

That's a small portion of the $871,154 it spends on all 63 committees, but, Foy said, it still represents "some real money that could be saved."

"I was hoping we'd see some more, and I was hoping we could have gone through them a little faster, but we've gotten some good work done here," he said. "I've been excited at the depth of information we're getting."

Foy said the most important result so far has been a general agreement on the board that when it forms committees in the future, it will give them a "sunset clause" so that they will dissolve when their work is done, unless the board extends them.

Two boards may be ditched

County Executive Officer Marty Robinson said she'll return to the Board of Supervisors in June with proposals to pull out of the Southern California Water Committee and the Point Mugu Regional Airport Authority.

The Airport Authority is a joint effort of the county and the cities of Oxnard, Ventura, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and Thousand Oaks. It was formed in 1995, when the military was contemplating closing parts of Naval Base Ventura County. If the U.S. Navy didn't need the Point Mugu airfield, the authority could step in and build a regional airport there, along the lines of the airports in Burbank or Santa Barbara.

The Airport Authority has never been an active body; it meets once a year so that it isn't dissolved, and typically adjourns in just minutes. Since there's no longer any talk of closing the naval base, there might not be any reason to keep the committee going, Supervisor Kathy Long said.

"Why do we continue this charade of having this body that says maybe we'll have joint use of that airport, when we're also saying, we need to protect the base and all the jobs there?" she said.

But the county's business leaders are still interested in preserving the option of a regional airport, whether it's at Point Mugu or elsewhere, said Bill Buratto, the executive director of the Ventura County Economic Development Association.

"They call it the Point Mugu Regional Airport Authority, and at this point that may be a misnomer, but for me, the larger question is, does it make sense to have it in existence for some point in the future when discussion of a regional airport surfaces again?" he said.

Buratto has also been a leader of the efforts to preserve the naval base during the period in 2005, when it was being examined for possible closure. At that time, he said, the presence of the Airport Authority wasn't seen as a threat to the base.

The other regional board that the county might pull out of is the Southern California Water Committee, an advocacy group made up of cities, counties, water districts and private businesses.

The annual dues are $10,000, and Robinson said the county might be able to accomplish the same advocacy through a different group that it belongs to, the Ventura County Association of Water Agencies.

Talk of withdrawing is "not unusual" among the Southern California Water Committee's members, said Joan Dym, the group's executive director.

"The economy goes up and down, and when it goes down, everybody starts looking at where they can find $5 to save," she said.

"We think we do a good job, and we think we represent our members well."

Cost-saving methods

Later in the summer, the Board of Supervisors will examine three other appointed committees: the Harbor Commission, the Alcohol and Drug Advisory Board, and the Civil Service Commission.

The Civil Service Commission, which hears appeals to disciplinary actions by county managers, is required by state law, so it's here to stay. It's one of the county's most expensive committees, at $112,000 a year, and its hearings are getting costlier every year, so the supervisors will look at potential cost-saving methods.

The Alcohol and Drug Advisory Board is on the list because some of its work overlaps with the Mental Health Advisory Board, and the supervisors might decide to combine the two, Robinson said. Each committee has an annual cost of $31,500.

The Ventura County Harbor Commission is made up of 10 people, two appointed by each supervisor, and its role at Channel Islands Harbor is strictly advisory.

According to county's report, it costs $55,900 to keep the commission running, with seven meetings a year.

A few supervisors have mentioned reducing the number of people on the board, or meeting less frequently.

"We could streamline the process, and look at whether there's some cost savings from that," Long said.

Flynn, whose district includes the harbor and most of the surrounding neighborhoods, said he's in favor of junking the whole thing.

"It could be very important, but it's just a rubber-stamp group," he said. "Either get rid of it, or give it more authority."

One committee that's not on the current list, though it spends more than $100,000 a year, is the Campaign Finance Ethics Commission.

The supervisors plan to consider revisions to that board's procedures after the November election, so as not to change the rules in mid- campaign.