CAMARILLO : Park Group Limits Access to Meetings

A citizens group formed last month to raise funds for sprucing up Camarillo’s parks has begun meeting, but the committee’s leader said the public is not welcome at the sessions.

Formed by the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District in response to residents’ complaints about district cutbacks, the committee held an introductory session Monday and will meet again at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the park district office on Burnley Avenue.

But district board President Gary Gasperino said he is not inviting members of the public to the citizens committee meetings.

“Having the public there is just basically going to confuse the issue and interfere with the brainstorming,” he said.

Gasperino said, however, that he probably could not prevent interested residents from taking part in the meetings.

And an expert on the state’s open-meeting laws confirmed that the sessions must be open to the public.

Because the citizens group was formed by a vote of the park district board--an elected body--the committee has to abide by the state’s open-meeting laws, said Renee C. Allison, attorney for the California Newspaper Publishers Assn.

Besides Gasperino, the committee includes two park district officials and 13 others, including leaders of local youth sports leagues that use Camarillo’s parks.

The 13 are Carol Belser, Lynn DeFore, David Edsall, Dave Fowble, Dan Kaufman, Kadi Kiisk, Mark Malloy, Ron Marcus, Lora Marsh, Ray McLaughlin, Larry Miller, David M. Smith and Robert Taylor.