Agoura Hills : Yacovone Named to Vector Control Agency

Joan Yacovone had her share of critics during her four years on the Agoura Hills City Council. Now the former councilwoman faces a possibly more pesky foe: mosquitoes.

The City Council has appointed her to a two-year term as a trustee on the Los Angeles County West Vector Control District, which deals with mosquito abatement, among other things.

Yacovone, a medical underwriter, did not seek reelection to the council last November, saying she no longer had time for the office. Her announcement came during a recall campaign against her and the other four council members that was launched after they voted to approve a 4% utility tax.

Her new position, in a relatively obscure agency, offers a chance to learn about county operations first-hand, Yacovone said.

The 17-member board meets the second Thursday of each month, and each trustee is paid $50 a meeting, said Robert Saviskas, executive director of the agency. The board makes policy decisions and approves budgets for the 50-year-old district, which encompasses a 600-square-mile area.

Yacovone and her fellow trustees will eventually have to deal with the threat of the extremely hazardous Africanized honey bees, which agency officials say are expected to reach the Conejo Valley by fall.