YOU ARE HERE: LAT HomeCollections (Page 4 of 4)  Penny Wise,
Pound Foolish?  County Animal Control Office Faces Shake-Up if
Simi Strays to L.A. for Services   But the cities considering a
change say they are quite pleased with the service being offered
by Ventura County. The problem is just that the city officials
are under orders to watch the bottom line.  "Our City Council
has instructed us to monitor what happens in Moorpark and Simi
Valley and what happens with Animal Regulation," says Larry
Davis, Camarillo's assistant city manager. "We're certainly
concerned that if Simi Valley pulls out and there's no reduction
in cost and they try to spread that cost among the other cities,
that's not fair."  The change might even push the county to
consider letting a private contractor take over the duties now
handled by its Animal Regulation Department, says Koester, the
county's chief administrator.  "You can scale down to a certain
degree," he says. "But if everyone bails and the county
basically runs a minimum pr