Panel Accused of Racism in Grant Dispute : Oxnard: At the center of the dispute is the Community Service Organization, a group that serves many Mexican-American seniors.

A dispute over a grant to provide services for senior citizens has triggered an accusation of racism against the Oxnard Commission on Aging and charges that one member may have violated the agency’s conflict-of-interest rules.

The controversy involves a grant that the Oxnard City Council recommended last month for the Community Service Organization, a 41-year-old group that provides a variety of services, mostly for Mexican-American senior citizens.

While the dispute involves only a few hundred dollars, it has become a highly charged disagreement that has spawned heated tempers and threats of resignation among the commissioners.

The Commission on Aging, a citizens group that makes recommendations to the council on how city money should be disbursed to service organizations, had suggested last month that the city give the organization $250.

This year, the city had $29,700 to divide among about a dozen groups, city officials said.

The brouhaha began when Commissioner Cloromiro Camacho came before the City Council Oct. 9 to voice his disagreement with his fellow commissioners and to lobby for more money for the Community Service Organization.

The Community Service Organization provides valuable services to the city’s older Latino community, Camacho said.

The council agreed with Camacho and offered to raise the grant to $550.

The other members of the Commission on Aging responded two weeks ago by writing a letter to the council, contending that Camacho has a conflict of interest in lobbying for more money because he is director of the organization that will receive the grant.

“Specifically, the (Commission on Aging) Manual states that ‘it would be inherently unethical for an individual commissioner to attempt to influence or persuade the City Council to assume a posture which may be in opposition to the commission as a whole,’ ” according to the letter, dated Nov. 15.

In an interview, commission Chairman Arthur Burr said at least two commission members threatened to resign because of the dispute but later changed their minds. “They felt it would be imprudent to let one person upset the whole apple cart,” he said.

Several other commissioners suggested that Camacho should resign, Burr said.

For his part, Camacho said he violated no conflict-of-interest rules and accused his fellow commissioners of being racist because they only wanted to spend $250 on his organization, while giving larger grants to groups that mainly serve Anglos.

He said he refuses to resign.

“I know they are very upset with me, but I don’t give a damn,” he said.

Burr rejected Camacho’s accusations of racism, saying the commission recommended that Camacho’s organization get only $250 because the group did not adequately explain how the money would be spent. In the past, Camacho’s organization has received as much as $2,000 from the city, officials said.

In the letter to the council--signed by all the commissioners except Camacho--the commission said it believes that Councilwoman Dorothy Maron also had a conflict of interest in voting for the grant because she is a member of the commission’s board of directors.

Maron said she did not have a conflict because she will not benefit financially from the council’s vote. She added that she disagrees with Camacho’s accusation that “the rest of the commissioners are anti-Latino.”

In light of the dispute, City Manager Vernon Hazen said the City Council will reconsider the entire matter at a meeting Dec. 4. At that time, the council can decide whether to give Camacho’s organization the $250 grant or the $550 grant, he said.

If the council confirms the $550 grant for Camacho’s group, the Commission on Aging must reduce by about 1% the grants recommended for other community organizations funded through city grants, city officials said.

Camacho said the cuts to other programs are worth it. His group, the ranks of which are filled mostly by volunteers, provides transportation services, meal deliveries and help to deal with everyday paperwork and bills for about 250 senior citizens every month, he said.

“We concentrate on Latinos because they need it the most,” he said.