City May Renew Chamber Contract

The City Council on Tuesday will consider whether to pay the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce $19,000 to provide public information services and handle consumer complaints for the 1996-97 fiscal year.

Since 1966, Thousand Oaks has awarded contracts to the Conejo Valley chamber to maintain a public information center and a customer complaint service. As part of the contract, the chamber also disseminates information about the community to residents and to those outside Thousand Oaks.

The chamber maintains information lists of local clubs and organizations, apartments, medical services, banquet and meeting facilities, churches and religious groups, motels, restaurants, shopping centers, social services and other community assets.

It puts together special brochures on subjects such as starting a business in the Conejo Valley, public transportation schedules, demographics, city and county officials, and commercial real estate agencies. The information is available to the public free.

The consumer complaint service provides a place for the public to lodge complaints about unsatisfactory transactions with local businesses.

The chamber attempts to mediate the disputes and, if necessary, it consults with the district attorney’s or city attorney’s offices. According to the chamber, it receives more than 15,000 inquiries a year for these services.