About Us
Posted on 07. Dec, 2010
History
Ventura County Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business was incorporated in July of 2010 in response to a number of pending regulations threatening agricultural and other businesses in Ventura County. We are a “homegrown” organization with a local board of directors and a growing membership. We cooperate with the COLAB groups in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties forming a tri-county force.
VC COLAB seeks to provide a funded, full-time presence in Ventura County to provide a balance between environmental regulatory and economic concerns. Our goal is to facilitate a coalition of agricultural and other businesses to identify and research issues that impact business, work with regulatory agencies and propose solutions. The type of businesses we ultimately represent will depend on the makeup of our membership.
Our Purpose
- To preserve and support a healthy and expanding economic base, promoting a positive image for labor, agriculture and business to enhance Ventura County’s economic vitality while protecting the local quality of life.
- To monitor local, regional and statewide regulatory land use policy and to educate VC COLAB members and the public on issues facing member’s labor force, agriculture and other common business interests.
- To develop and represent positions before policy makers to promote our VC COLAB member’s common business interests.
Our Officers/Board of Directors
Tim Cohen: Chairman of the Board
John Hecht: Vice Chairman of the Board
Bud Sloan: President / Director
Lynn Gray Jensen: Secretary / Executive Director
Dennis Kuttler: Treasurer / Director
Tim Albers: Director
Harry Barnum: Director
Fred Ferro: Director
Jurgen Gramckow: Director
Kenneth High: Director
Kioren Moss: Director
Jack Poe: Director
Alex Teague: Director
Patty Waters: Director
Executive Director Remarks
At VC COLAB we see reasonable land use decisions as a key part of maintaining the health and prosperity of Ventura County for the benefit of all inhabitants. With our ever expanding population, we must balance the need for wildlife preservation with the need for food, energy, jobs and recreation. In this county, over 50% of the 1.2 million acres are preserved in National Parks, Forests, Wilderness areas, bird sanctuaries and protected by conservancies. In comparison, less than 100,000 acres (8%) are actively farmed with crops. As a majority of our food source is supplied by plants and animals, farming and ranching must be protected on private land and encouraged to expand.
In fact, many resource based businesses operate in the unincorporated county related to farming, ranching, mining and oil. These businesses provide jobs and revenue for county government. While we recognize that regulation is necessary, we are promoting a new cooperation, where agency staff works directly with stakeholders and technical experts to refine often damaging rules. We want to eliminate regulations that have a control agenda with no significant benefit to the public. In addition we intend to speak out at public hearings, stage demonstrations and challenge the science that some current policies are based on.
We are hoping that you will express to your friends and business associates the value of joining and supporting our efforts. Hiring technical expert biologists, engineers and attorneys is expensive; however, it will be much more expensive to fight unfounded regulations individually later. Let’s get together and speak out against unreasonable regulation of our businesses and properties. Unnecessary red tape is frustrating and inhibits opportunities for job growth in our communities. Together, we will strive to represent the core values and entrepreneurial spirit that America was founded on and make a positive difference in the business climate of this beautiful and productive county.