MOORPARK : City Council Fires Head of Parks Panel

The Moorpark City Council voted 4 to 1 Wednesday night to fire the chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission after accusations that he overspent and mismanaged city funds while overseeing this year’s Cinco de Mayo celebration.

Lynn Crockatt, who has been a parks commissioner for four years and chairman for two, was fired by the council effective immediately.

Councilman Scott Montgomery, who first brought attention to the alleged mismanagement of the event, introduced the motion to fire Crockatt, saying Crockatt had not appeared before the council to explain his actions.

“The apology that’s due is not due the City Council. He owes an apology to the public,” Montgomery said.

The only dissent came from Councilman Bernardo Perez, who said he did not think that the council should consider removing Crockatt until an independent investigation of the matter is completed by the county grand jury and district attorney.

He said the responsibility for any mishandling should be shared by the council and city staff.

Crockatt, a Los Angeles County firefighter, was appointed to the commission four years ago by former Mayor John Lane and was reappointed last year by Mayor Paul Lawrason. He makes $100 a meeting for up to two meetings a month.

Crockatt was not at the meeting Wednesday, but he has maintained that the Cinco de Mayo event was a success and any problems were due to the fact that the celebration this year was much larger than the previous one.

Crockatt, who headed the committee that organized this year’s Cinco de Mayo event, has come under heavy criticism from city officials for the committee’s spending of $3,178.33 more than the $12,000 the city allocated for the celebration.

In addition, a 21-page report prepared by city staff members said the city has no accurate record of how the funds were used because the 3,000 tickets sold for the event were unnumbered and Crockatt paid performers with cash from ticket sales.

In response to subsequent charges that the report was biased against Crockatt and the commission, the city asked the Ventura County grand jury and district attorney to make an independent review of the affair. Neither agency has issued any opinions on the matter.