Monte Lavern Widders

Monte L. Widders’ expertise lies in the areas of municipal, school district, public agency, tax, real estate, community association, corporate, and general business law.

In 1971, Mr. Widders opened his own practice in Santa Barbara and in 1974 he joined J. Roger Myers to form Myers & Widders in Ventura.  He served on the Carpinteria City Council from 1974 – 1978 and as Mayor of Carpinteria in 1978.  In 1980 Mr. Widders was appointed City Attorney of Ojai, California, as well as general counsel for the Ojai Redevelopment Agency.  He served in these capacities until retiring as full-time City Attorney and as general counsel for the Redevelopment Agency in May 2011.

In addition to serving as City Attorney of Ojai and its redevelopment counsel, Mr. Widders has represented numerous other public entities as special counsel, including the County of Ventura and the Cities of San Buenaventura, Fillmore, Santa Paula, Carpinteria, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, Special Districts such as the Casitas Municipal Water District, the Ojai Valley Water Conservation District and the Ventura Regional Housing Authority.  Currently, Mr. Widders acts as special real estate counsel for the Ventura Unified School District, the Conejo Valley Unified School District, the Simi Valley Unified School District, Mesa Union School District and Pleasant Valley School District.

Mr. Widders has lectured extensively in the field of municipal law, both at the League of California Cities as well as the Tri-Counties Local Government Attorneys’ Association.  Mr. Widders presented a paper on the Public Records Act to the California City Clerks’ Association.

Mr. Widders is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Ventura County Bar Association and currently acts as an attorney fee arbitrator for the County Bar. He is past president and member of the Tri-Counties Local Government Attorneys’ Association.  In 1996 and 1997, he helped edit the California Municipal Law Handbook.