Bonus Post: Passing of a Public Servant
RIP Ed Jones – Thousand Oaks Mayor and Ventura County Supervisor
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Thousand Oaks Mayor David Newman let the public know today of the passing of Ed Jones, former Thousand Oaks Mayor and Ventura County Supervisor.[1][2] He was 94.
Ed played critical roles in the growth and governance of the city of Thousand Oaks, California. I always found him an energetic public servant, wise with his understanding of meeting the needs of people, and legendary for his door-to-door walking campaigns for public office, even in a city with over 125,000 residents and spanning over 55 square miles.
For a brief overview of Jones’s service, the recent article from the Ventura County Star provided a nice succinct history. [3]
The length of Jones’s involvement is detailed in one of my current projects: Tuesday Night Fights.
Tuesday Night Fights spans the last half-century, detailing the birth and tumultuous rise of a relatively new American city - Thousand Oaks, California - incorporating in the 1960s at a time of rapid growth in the Southern California region. The city started from humble Western beginnings, served as a backdrop for Hollywood’s “Golden Age,” and eventually became home to the global biotech giant Amgen and over 125,000 residents. [4]
Ed Jones’s involvement in the history of Thousand Oaks traversed seven decades. Below is an excerpt from Tuesday Night Fights, focusing on Jones’s arc as an engaged citizen and public servant to Conejo Valley residents.
Ed Jones
The history of Thousand Oaks as an official city began in 1964, when it incorporated as the 389th municipality to incorporate in California. [5]
Ed Jones first rose to the City Council’s attention in 1965 when he, residing at the corner of Shaw Court and Valley High, addressed the Council to protest the extension of Janss Road through Shaw Court, and stated that he represented twelve of his neighbors and that a petition of protest will be forthcoming with fifty signatures. [6] When the matter finally came before the Council to evaluate two alternatives, Jones had become president of the Oaks Crest Property Owners Association and addressed the Council to object to the Shaw Court option; [7] the Council ultimately selected a different option, and Janss Road was connected to La Granada Drive.
Jones won election to the City Council in 1970 in his first attempt at public office. He served as Thousand Oaks Mayor when the city’s first civic center was dedicated in 1973, [8] but his tenure on the Council would be brief, ending after one term; Jones sought and won a seat on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors in 1974, winning election to the county post twice more in 1978 and 1982, even winning re-election in 1982 unopposed. [9]
However, in 1985, Jones agreed to plead no contest to charges of public drunkenness and disturbing the peace. [10] Under pressure from his fellow supervisors, Jones resigned from his position as Chair of the Ventura County Board, but did not resign his board seat and pursued reelection in 1986. Madge Schaefer, then a Thousand Oaks City Councilmember, ran against Jones and won by five percentage points in the head-to-head November election contest. [11]
Though an electoral defeat, this didn’t stop Ed Jones’s engagement with the community and public endeavors. The 1990s was a time of concern about urban sprawl and the impacts of sprawl observed in Los Angeles and Orange Counties; the issue became important for proponents of protecting open space and agricultural lands within Ventura County.
In 1996, Thousand Oaks residents passed Measure E, a growth control measure which advocated for a public vote if the residential densities and commercial acreage on the city’s General Plan were to be increased beyond the current 1996 baseline. [12]
The first true test of Measure E came in 2001, specifically about whether recommended changes to the city’s General Plan would need a public vote or if the amendment could be modified to stay within the Measure E limitations. And Ed Jones played a role in this first test.
Ed Jones sent a letter to the City representing Jerry Brodecky, owner of Thousand Oaks Toyota on Thousand Oaks Boulevard. Jones proposed that a portion of Brodecky’s property, about 1.2 acres, be redesignated from “medium density residential” to “commercial” to accommodate the dealership’s expansion. Noting that this could trigger Measure E, Jones proposed that “an alternative to a vote of the people be invoked in which it is demonstrated that an equivalent amount of land within the city has been rezoned by removing it from commercial since Measure E became law…” [13] Jones went on to recommend that this could be accomplished with land that “has been or is in the process of being removed from commercial and use that acreage to demonstrate that there will be no net increase…” [14]
The Council initiated a review in the appropriate policy for implementing Measure E, and after considerable study and analysis, the approach first contemplated by Jones was adopted. As a result, the Brodecky Toyota proposal was modified years later to reduce their commercial acreage request from 1.2 acres to 1 acre so that a popular vote was not needed. [15]
Jones made his return to elected office in 2010, when he won a seat on the Conejo Recreation and Park District board. [16] While a member of the Rec and Park District board and winning a second term in 2014, Jones sought to return to the Thousand Oaks City Council. Two years after winning election to the Park board, Jones ran unsuccessfully for the Council in 2012, finishing third for the two available Council seats among the field of nine candidates. [17] After passage of the Thousand Oaks Right to Vote initiative, requiring that elections be held when vacancies on the Council occur, Jones through his hat into the ring for the June 2015 special election.
On election night, Ed Jones appeared to have garnered enough votes to win the open seat; By 11 pm that Tuesday night, the unofficial tallies had Jones leading primary challenger Rob McCoy, a senior pastor at Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Newbury Park, by 75 votes. [18]
However, three days later, after counting ballots from late reporting precincts, provisional ballots, and absentee ballots yet to be received in the mail, the results were official: Rob McCoy had pulled ahead of Jones, winning by a margin of 52 votes. [19] From a percentage margin of victory, at the time, this was a second closest Council race in city history.
“I’m honored to be elected by the citizens of Thousand Oaks as their new councilman,” said McCoy in a gracious acknowledgement of Jones’s service after winning the close contest. “Ed Jones is a longtime servant of this community ... what a fighter. He loves this community as much as I do... I hope to represent them well and all the folks who voted for them.” [20]
Ventura County Clerk-Recorder Mark Lunn, who served years earlier as a Thousand Oaks Planning Commissioner, said the close finish between McCoy and Jones showed the important of voting. “Every time I hear the comment, ‘my vote doesn’t count anyway,’ it makes me cringe,” Lunn said, adding, “It’s important that folks realize that important decisions are being made by voters for people that are put in positions of responsibility and power to impact how we live our daily lives. It’s important that their voice be heard.” [21]
Former Thousand Oaks Mayors Andy Fox, Chuck Cohen, Frank Schillo, and Ed Jones honoring outgoing Mayor Al Adam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULQSBOfmiEk (54:08)
In 2018, Councilmember Claudia Bill-de la Peña won her fifth term to the Council, besting a field of eleven candidates seeking three seats, and among those joining her on the Council was Ed Jones, yielding a strong third-place finish, making his comeback to the Thousand Oaks City Council complete at the age of 88. [22]
Jones ran for re-election in 2022, but, out of a field of ten candidates for three open seats, Jones finished sixth, ending his elected public service in Thousand Oaks from the 1970s to the 2020s. [23][24]
Characteristic of Jones’s energy and commitment to public service, Jones was active until the end. Only a month prior to his passing, Jones participated in the annual ceremony honoring outgoing Thousand Oaks Mayors finishing their one-year mayoral term. [25]
GIF Game
In honor of Ed Jones, thank you for your decades of public service.
Mark Harmon in NCIS (The Arizona)
Notes and Sources
[1] David Newman [@toccnewman.bsky.social], Bluesky, January 26, 2025, https://bsky.app/profile/toccnewman.bsky.social/post/3lgnwojwym32a
[2] David Newman [@toccnewman.bsky.social], Bluesky, January 26, 2025, https://bsky.app/profile/toccnewman.bsky.social/post/3lgnwoko5sw2r
[3] Kathleen Wilson, “Former Thousand Oaks councilman Ed Jones dies, leaves 'lasting impact through his service',” Ventura County Star, January 26, 2025, https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/2025/01/25/former-county-supervisor-to-councilman-dies/77947627007/
[4] Mic Farris, “Tuesday Night Fights,” https://www.micfarris.com/projects/tuesday-night-fights
[5] “California Cities by Incorporation Date,” California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions (CALAFCO), retrieved July 16, 2023.
[6] Minutes of Thousand Oaks City Council, December 7, 1965.
[7] Minutes of Thousand Oaks City Council, September 20, 1966.
[8] Martha Willman, “Thousand Oaks Civic Center: City Will Dedicate Architectural Gem,” Los Angeles Times, February 18, 1973.
[9] “Statement of Votes Cast at the Direct Primary Election, June 8, 1982,” Office of the Ventura County Clerk and Recorder, https://recorder.countyofventura.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/1982-June-SOV.pdf.
[10] Thomas Omestad, “Supervisor Jones to Plead No Contest on Lesser Counts,” Los Angeles Times, October 2, 1985.
[11] Sam Enriquez, “Schaefer Vows to Get Slice of the Pie for Conejo Valley,” Los Angeles Times, November 6, 1986.
[12] Resolution 96-126, Thousand Oaks City Council, June 25, 1996, and codified as Thousand Oaks Municipal Code, Sections 9.2.203(b)(2) and (3).
[13] Memo to City Council from Mark G. Sellers, City Attorney, “Subject: Request of Mr. Brodecky on Thousand Oaks Toyota Expansion,” June 5, 2001, attached letter from Ed Jones.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Minutes of the Thousand Oaks City Council, July 26, 2005.
[16] “County of Ventura Statement of Vote, Gubernatorial General Election, November 2, 2010,” Office of the Ventura County Clerk and Recorder, https://recorder.countyofventura.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2010-Nov.-SOV.pdf
[17] “County of Ventura Statement of Vote, November 6, 2012,” Office of the Ventura County Clerk and Recorder, https://recorder.countyofventura.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2012-NOV-StatementOfVotes_Book.pdf
[18] Anna Bitong, “Ed Jones appears the winner by razor thin margin,” Thousand Oaks Acorn, June 4, 2015.
[19] Wendy Leung, “McCoy wins T.O. council post,” Ventura County Star, June 6, 2015.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Ibid.
[22] “Incumbent’s defeat raises tricky questions,” Thousand Oaks Acorn, December 6, 2018.
[23] Victoria Talbot, “New-look Thousand Oaks City Council to be sworn in Dec. 13,” Thousand Oaks Acorn, December 2, 2022.
[24] Victoria Talbot, “City Council welcomes two, loses two,” Thousand Oaks Acorn, December 16, 2022.
[25] Thousand Oaks City Council Meeting - December 10, 2024 Debate on Item 5B, “Special Presentations and Announcments, Presentations to Outgoing Mayor Adam,” Thousand Oaks City Council, Video Archive, December 10, 2024, 54:08, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULQSBOfmiEk
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