As Supervisor, Long - who was Board chair in 2005 - joined the City Council at the forefront in the effort to save Santa Paula Memorial Hospital from its bankruptcy and closure in December 2003. After the hospital closed, Long continued to work with the Council and her fellow Board members - some that were initially skeptical - leading to the purchase of the campus and then the hospital’s July 2006 reopening as a satellite of the Ventura County Medical Center.Santa Paula Hospital “has been very successful, far beyond what we expected for the first year,” noted Long, who would like to see a new county clinic - such as the Fillmore facility that has boosted the local economy - built in Santa Paula. The Santa Clara Valley Wellness Foundation has been supportive, providing a $40,000 grant to promote and offer education of a mobile mammogram unit that debuted in Santa Paula and will be available countywide.Long, who with Supervisor Steve Bennett created the Campaign Finance Ordinance that limits contributions to supervisor campaigns, has been working on her 2007 goals, including cost effective programs for public safety, health and welfare of the county’s more than 800,000 residents.Long has worked closely with residents on the Santa Paula Creek issue, and has a respected knowledge of water issues. She is supportive of agriculture, and believes that the Heritage Valley Tourism effort - which she is highly active in as a Board director - is gaining momentum “as more and more cultural tourists are coming to experience this jewel of a valley.”Long has also worked closely with Santa Paula Police Chief Steve MacKinnon on the Social Host Responsibility Ordinance, adopted separately by the county and the city. Long noted, “The chief has been on that since the ground floor and been excellent on the issue,” including involving SPPD officers in discussions on the ordinance that “really can save the lives and the future of children” allowed to drink at private residences.Named the 2002-2003 Camarillo Chamber “Public Servant of the Year,” Long has also garnered the Distinguished Community Leader Award from the Ventura County Leadership Academy, and the American Red Cross Clara Barton “Public Servant of the Year” Award. Known for her interest and efforts on behalf of business, Long was also honored with the Ventura County Economic Development Association’s “Spirit of Government Award.”She serves on numerous countywide boards, commissions and committees, ranging from the Transportation Commission to Southern California Association of Governments to the Air Pollution Control Board to the county Cancer Task Force, which Long, a cancer survivor, chairs. Running for a possible fourth term on the Board of Supervisors and all her other activities do not daunt Long: “At the end of the day my family still knows me and loves me and it’s all in balance.”
Supervisor Kathy Long aims for fourth term
October 10, 2007
Santa Paula News
Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long is on a roll, announcing that she will seek a fourth term representing the Third District at about the same time that she received yet another prestigious award.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesVentura County Supervisor Kathy Long is on a roll, announcing that she will seek a fourth term representing the Third District at about the same time that she received yet another prestigious award. Long, a resident of Camarillo, was named the 2007 Outstanding California Association of LAFCOs’ Member of the Year at the CALAFCO conference held in Sacramento.Long has marked her tenure as supervisor by making sure she is an on-the-spot representative for Santa Paula, Fillmore and Piru residents. Her district also includes Camarillo, Lockwood Valley, Port Hueneme and sections of Oxnard, among other areas.She will be filing the paperwork for the June primary early next year, and if she garners a majority of the votes there will be no runoff. So far no challengers have stepped forward to take on the popular Long.She decided to run again as, “There are still some important issues” Long said she wants to continue to tackle “that I am passionate about. Besides, I’m healthy, my family is in balance, and I have energy, and more so the health, to represent the 3rd District’s” approximately 155,000 residents. “I’m passionate about creative ideas about housing, and am very involved in the 10-year plan to end homelessness, while still keeping things focused locally,” just one of Long’s numerous interests.A native of Michigan, Long has a BA in education and began her political career in 1979 working as an administrative assistant for the City of Detroit. She moved to Los Angeles in 1981 to take a staff position with then Los Angeles City Council President Pat Russell.Moving to Camarillo with her husband Randy in 1988 - the couple has a son, Austin - Long became involved with the Chamber of Commerce and was the business organization’s president in 1991. Former Supervisor Maggie Kildee hired Long as an administrative aide in 1991, and when Kildee retired about five years later Long successfully sought her seat.
