Grand Jury Probes City on 2 Issues

The Ventura County Grand Jury has launched an inquiry into the city’s policy of free golfing privileges for non-elected officials and the allocation of public funds for the use of the Performing Arts Center by an organization co-founded by a former city councilman, sources said Thursday.

Both the golf course issue and subsidizing of the Mexihcayotl Society for the Arts & Humanities have concerned Mayor Manuel Lopez and other members of the council, who have questioned the use of public money to fund such activities.

Without commenting on any details, Lopez confirmed that he was contacted by members of the grand jury two weeks ago and was interviewed this week on both issues.

“I think everything should go through council approval,” said Councilman John Zaragoza. “At least we should know what all the facts are.”

But former Councilman Andres Herrera, co-founder of the Mexihcayotl Society, said his organization has done nothing wrong.

“They can investigate all they want,” he said. “The organization was never aware that it was being subsidized and we were never billed for any of these things.”

For more than a decade, Oxnard’s elected officials have been playing golf for free at the city’s only course--the River Ridge Golf Course. Manager Otto Kanny has confirmed that free golf privileges are also extended to guests and even former council members Herrera and Michael Plisky.

Though state and local officials say it is not illegal for the council members to golf for free, the law prohibits the extension of these free privileges to non-elected officials, according to the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

In addition to the golf course issue, questions have been raised on the allocation of funds for performances organized by the Mexihcayotl Society. Since 1993, the Performing Arts Center has absorbed more than $22,000 in performance costs, including food, security, T-shirts, advertising and programs, said Bevra Skelton, event coordinator for the Performing Arts Center.

In addition, the Performing Arts Center said it had sold a total of $70,731 in tickets on behalf of the Mexihcayotl Society for its performances during the past four years. The society received all the ticket proceeds, Skelton said.

The organization bills itself as a nonprofit group. However, neither the secretary of state nor the Franchise Tax Board shows records of the organization as a registered nonprofit group, according to representatives of each agency.

In 1993, Jack Lavin, Performing Arts Center manager, and Peter Martinez, chairman of the Mexihcayotl Society, signed a contract that took the organization under the wings of an umbrella nonprofit organization called the Patrons of the Arts, Lavin said. Patrons of the Arts is the private fund-raising arm of the Performing Arts Center and the Carnegie Museum in Oxnard.

“When your boss tells you to do it, you do it,” said Lavin, referring to Herrera, who was on the council at the time. “We gave them the contract and a detailed expense report and told them we would appreciate any help he could give us in offsetting our costs.”

Lavin said he never heard from any Mexihcayotl representatives regarding the expenditures.

Herrera said it was understood that the society would give free concerts at various sites around the community if it could use the auditorium as part of an in-kind exchange for the performances.

According to Andrew Voth, the Performing Arts Center’s treasurer, the contract stipulated that the society needed to show audits, financial statements and other requirements. Voth said he never received any of the documents. In order to qualify as a nonprofit organization under the Patrons of the Arts, the society needed to abide by the contract rules and did not, Voth said.

“I have never seen any figures on what they have taken in or spent,” Voth said. “In my opinion, they have never kept the terms of the agreement, so they have never been umbrellaed by us.”

However, Herrera maintains that the organization provided the Performing Arts Center with detailed accounts of expenses and events each year.

“All the records for the organization are intact,” he said. “All the expenses are detailed.”

In 1994, a Mexihcayotl performance featured Linda Ronstadt. In 1995, the show included performances by Herrera’s niece Ixya Herrera and the Conjunto Hueyapan, a musical group of which Herrera is a member.

The Mexihcayotl performances were among three events that were subsidized by city money, according to Lavin. Both the KVEN Talent Show and the Martin Luther King Birthday Observance performance fee waivers were approved by the City Council, said Lavin.

“I don’t remember this coming to the City Council,” said Pinkard, referring to the fee waivers. “I don’t know how it happened. No one has explained this to me.”