City Hall Gets Beat in Small Claims Court

A local environmental organization has won a small claims judgment in its long-running dispute with the city of Moorpark over who gets what’s left of a $64,000 state grant used to restore wetlands in the Arroyo Simi.

The Environmental Coalition’s Moorpark chapter was awarded $1,200 for work done more than two years ago in the arroyo, said Roseann Mikos, who managed the restoration project for the group.

In June 1995 the city had also been ordered to pay $3,500 to the group that was left over from the grant.

“It’s beyond belief that we’ve had to go through all of this,” Mikos said. “At the very least someone at the city should offer us an apology.”

Mayor Paul Lawrason said Wednesday he was pleased that the work on the arroyo had been completed, but added, “I wish we could have resolved this without so much personal animosity.”

The dispute started almost immediately after the state grant was awarded in 1993.

At that time, then-City Councilman Scott Montgomery tried to prevent any of the grant money from going to members of the environmental group, saying the work should be done by volunteers.

The restoration work was completed on time. Half of the more than 7,500 hours of work was donated, Mikos said. She said she donated more than 1,500 hours of her own time supervising the replanting of native vegetation.

After the work was completed in the summer of 1994, about $4,700 of the grant remained, and city officials decided the leftover amount should be divided between city workers and the environmental group.

Mikos and the Environmental Coalition balked at the proposal and took the case to small claims court.