Moorpark Will Consider Proposal for a City Flag : Government: Staff has recommended a design using the official seal. Others say that more input is needed.

The city of Moorpark tonight will consider becoming one of several Ventura County cities to proclaim its sovereignty through the creation of an official city flag.

“I think it would be nice to have a city flag,” Councilman Bernardo Perez said of the idea. “We’ll raise it up and see if anyone salutes it.”

The notion of creating the city’s own banner struck Mayor Paul Lawrason in October, when he and Perez witnessed a display of city flags at a San Francisco meeting of the League of California Cities.

Back at home, Lawrason and Councilman Scott Montgomery asked the city staff to come up with a flag proposal. The result was a white flag with the city seal and the words “City of Moorpark” in black letters.

But some have warned against rushing ahead with a simple design that the city may live to regret.

“I think that rather than hurry up and goof, it would be reasonable to take some more time and have some more input,” said former Councilwoman Eloise Brown. “Why do we have to hurry up and do something and then live with the goof for the next 20 years?”

The city seal features an apricot blossom against a blue sky--reminiscent of the city’s origins as an apricot-producing region. But Brown said a city flag should offer a more well-rounded view of life in Moorpark.

“Certainly I would like to have something of more definition on a flag than just the blossom,” she said. “My own thought is that part of our identity--whether they like it or not--is going to include the freeway bridge.”

Perez also called the current design unimaginative and said the city might want to organize a competition so residents can champion what they like most about their city--be it Metrolink commuter rail, the freeway connector or apricots--on the flags they create.

“This is the image of our city, and if the people are going to be paying for it and having it waved around, maybe they should have a say in what goes on it.”

The council tonight will review a proposal to spend $1,600 for 12 3-foot-by-5-foot flags, two of which will be prepared for mounting. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. in City Hall, 799 Moorpark Ave.

If the council eventually approves a flag design, Moorpark would join Camarillo, Santa Paula, Ventura and Thousand Oaks as the only cities in the county to have adopted flags.

Santa Paula’s flag features a tree filled with oranges, lemons and avocados on a white background and the words, “Citrus Capital of the World,” said City Manager Arnold Dowdy.

Ventura’s colorful flag shows children holding hands, a replica of the mission, a poinsettia and other symbols. The flags of Camarillo and Thousand Oaks take a more standard approach by highlighting the city seals.

*

“I think it creates a sense of community pride and pride in where we live,” Moorpark Councilman Pat Hunter said of the proposed flag. “I think that it’s important that that pride be shown wherever possible, because Moorpark truly is a terrific place to work and live and raise a family.”

Moorpark officials said the flag would be flown outside City Hall and featured at city-sponsored events, such as the annual Country Days celebration and other ceremonial gatherings attended by city officials.

Thousand Oaks Councilman Alex Fiore said that when he attended a conference of mayors in Chicago years ago he brought along his city flag. The only copy of the flag now hangs in the council chambers.

“We did adopt that one as our city flag, back in the early ‘70s if not the late ‘60s,” Fiore said. “We also adopted a city song and nobody knows about that, either. It was written by a woman in town and no one knows what it is and I can’t even hum it.”