PORT HUENEME : BRAC ’95 Task Force Changes Name, Focus

Leaders of a lobbying group that fought to keep Ventura County’s two Navy bases from closure said Thursday that they have changed the group’s name and its mission.

The BRAC ’95 Task Force has changed its name to the Community Navy Action Partnership, whose purpose now will be to expand operations at the base and to help local defense contractors adapt to the commercial marketplace, said Bill Simmons, executive director.

Supervisor John K. Flynn, who joined Simmons at a news conference, said that although the Point Mugu and Port Hueneme bases have been saved from closure, there is still the threat of layoffs.

Flynn said there is a possibility that more than 100 jobs would be transferred to Ventura County from a Naval facility in Louisville, Ky.

“We think even though the military defense budget is shrinking, there is still a lot of money there,” he said. “And we want to get as much money as we can into Ventura County. We need jobs.”

Meanwhile, Flynn said the task force will form two committees, one to lobby to bring more work to Point Mugu and Port Hueneme, and another to help defense contractors diversify and expand.

The task force will hold a workshop with interested businesses Thursday at Veda Inc. in Camarillo, 5141 Verdugo Way, from 7:30 a.m. to noon. For more information, call 654-3611.