Ovitt Touts Record, Experience in Re-election Bid

Gary Ovitt said he hopes the voters in the county’s Fourth District will return him to office based upon his performance as the representative of Chino Hills, Chino, Montclair, Ontario and the surrounding unincorporated county areas over the last six years.
“With my colleagues on the board I have managed to balance our budget while keeping people employed during the difficult time we have had the last three years,” he said. “Before that, when we had property tax coming in when our property values were high I was able to bring a lot of taxes back to the district and accomplished much in the cities and unincorporated areas of the district.”
Ovitt said he had also opened the county’s governmental processes to wider scrutiny. “We also put the 700 forms on line as well as the vendors’ lists and some of the other pertinent information to make government more transparent,” he said.
His reference was to California Form 700s, statements of economic interest filed yearly by California’s elected officials as well as those in decision making capacities with governmental agencies. The county took action three years ago to have those forms posted on the county’s website.
Ovitt is currently chairman of the board of supervisors. He pointed to his co-chairmanship of two committees – one backing Jessica’s Law and another backing the Safe Neighborhoods Act – as activities that recommended him to the district’s voters. He noted that Jessica’s law, which is intended to punish sex offenders and reduce their ability to re-offend, was passed, but that the Safe Neighborhoods Act had failed to become  law.
It is his perception, Ovitt said, that “The challenges in the Fourth District are the same as those throughout the county. It is all about economics. At this point we are working to keep the state from taking dollars from the county and our district. That money should be kept in the county. We need that money to keep people employed and to create jobs. “
The length of time he has already served in office and his mastery of the machinery of governance recommends him to be retained in office, Ovitt said.
“I have 18 years experience in local government,” he said. “I am the president of SCAG [Southern California Associated Governments, a regional planning joint powers authority involving county and city governments]. I have worked to make SCAG more relevant and to build its reputation. I am familiar with SB 375 and AB 32, both of which will have tremendous impact on people’s lives and how business will operate. I have experience dealing with these issues. I have built relationships in the district and at the county and state level and have reported to congressman and state assemblymen and senators to let them know the issues we are facing and to obviously build a collaboration between all of us in government to meet the needs of our constituents.”
SB 375 requires metropolitan planning organizations to include so-called sustainable communities strategies in their regional transportation plans for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, aligns planning for transportation and housing, and creates specified incentives for reducing exhaust emissions and facilitating the creation of housing near major employment areas.
AB 32 is the Global Warming Act of 2006, an initiative to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and further reduce those emissions by 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050.
Ovitt was a councilman with the city of Ontario from 1992 to 1998 and mayor from 1998 until 2004. In the 1970s, he was on that city’s parks and recreation commission.
“I think that the truth is I have provided good leadership both as mayor of Ontario and president of SCAG and chairman of the board of supervisors,” he said. “Things have been changing, I believe for the better. We brought in [former Ontario city manager] Greg Devereaux as county administrative officer. We have also hired a new executive director at SCAG, which bodes well for both the county and SCAG. I am willing to make those changes when they are necessary or desirable. I have commissioned a quality of life survey to provide us with community development opportunity indicators. We are developing a vision for the county and we are looking toward the future in a positive way.”
Ovitt was born in Ontario, where he has lived his entire life. He graduated from Chaffey High School and attended the University of Redlands. He taught at Chaffey High School for thirty-five years before retiring. Ovitt and his wife, Susan, have one daughter.