EAST COUNTY : VanderKolk Aide Baggerly Laid Off

Ventura County Supervisor Maria VanderKolk has laid off her chief of staff because she no longer needs an environmental planning specialist and must trim her office budget, the aide said Thursday.

Russ Baggerly, 50, said his last day of work will be June 30, although VanderKolk does not leave office until the end of the year.

“There’s been a slowdown of work, and I’ve been laid off,” Baggerly said. “There’s another budget shortfall coming up, and Maria wanted to do something about her budget.”

Since Baggerly works on long-range planning issues at the county Hall of Administration and not in VanderKolk’s district office, he was most expendable, he said.

“She obviously felt that the long-term environmental review that I’m good at is something she’s not going to need,” he said.

Baggerly denied a rift with VanderKolk. But county sources said the two had a recent disagreement over office policy.

VanderKolk was in New York on county business and could not be reached for comment.

Baggerly, an Ojai Valley environmental consultant before joining the new supervisor’s staff in 1991, said he will return to consulting and will probably focus on air quality issues.