Applicants Sought for City Youth Task Force

To provide better services and youth activities for the children and teenagers in Westlake Village, the City Council is taking applications for a Blue Ribbon Youth Task Force to examine current programs and address unmet needs.

The task force is being formed to assist the council--which made youth issues one of its goals for the year--in making decisions that would affect the city’s young people.

“If we look as a community where our future is, it’s in our youth,” said Mayor Doug Yarrow. “They are going to be the future leaders of tomorrow.”

Recently, the council has grappled with several youth-related issues, including whether to accept a developer’s deal to provide a large, sports-friendly park and a new school, or what to do about skateboarders using parking lots for their sport.

The youth task force is expected to advise the council when such issues come before it. Its duties will include studying current city programs for children, identifying where the city falls short in services, recommending a course of action to meet those needs and studying possible new programs and services for youth.

The group is expected to meet monthly or bimonthly for eight to 10 months.

The task force will comprise 16 members, including Yarrow, Councilwoman Betty De Santis and 14 others appointed by the council. Each council member will appoint two adults to the task force and four of the 14 members will be teenage or younger.

Applications for the task force may be obtained by calling (818) 706-1613. The application deadline is April 15.

New members will be appointed at a council study session on April 23.