Fired Official Hired by Supervisor Flynn

Two months after the Channel Islands Beach Community Service District fired him, Gerard Kapuscik began a new job this week as a senior assistant for Supervisor John Flynn.

Kapuscik, 44, is expected to work on a range of issues, including a project to help support the Navy bases in the county as they downsize and to work with the Port Hueneme Water Agency to create a drought-proof region.

“He knows county government quite well and knows the kinds of projects I’ve been involved in quite well,” Flynn said. “He’s a very able individual.”

Kapuscik began his second stint working for Flynn on Tuesday. He served the supervisor between 1981 to 1983, working on sewage treatment issues and countywide land-use projects.

A project for Flynn in the early 1980s--to determine the future of several beachfront communities--led to the creation of the Channel Islands Beach Community Service District. Residents of the oceanfront neighborhoods--Silver Strand, Hollywood Beach and Hollywood-by-the-Sea--formed the agency in 1982 to provide for combined sewer, water and trash services.

Kapuscik held the post as the agency’s general manager from 1983 until last December when the service district’s board voted in closed session to fire him. His ouster came after a contentious election for two seats on the district board. The campaign was marked by clashes over a county plan to force Channel Islands Harbor businesses to take water from a $28-million desalination plant being built in Port Hueneme, which detractors say will result in higher water fees.

Kapuscik said his dismissal, part of the agency’s downsizing efforts, was to give the new board more control over the service district’s operations.