MOORPARK : Historical Society’s Role Non-Official

The Moorpark City Council has decided it would be inappropriate to give a private, nonprofit historical society any specific authority under a historic preservation ordinance the city is considering.

Under the version of the ordinance approved by the Planning Commission in June, the Moorpark Historical Society would have been named the city’s official adviser on issues of historic preservation.

But discussing the issue Wednesday, council members agreed that it would be inappropriate to declare such a group as a semiofficial branch of city government by writing it into city law.

“I consider them advisory now,” said Councilman John Wozniak. “Writing them into this ordinance, it seems to me we are now officially giving them a committee appointment.”

Councilmen Scott Montgomery and Bernardo Perez agreed, and the portion of the ordinance dealing with the historical society’s role was stricken from the local law--which was sent back to city staff for reworking.

Mayor Paul Lawrason, who is a member of the society and whose wife, Connie, serves as its president, objected to the group’s exclusion.

“I don’t want to shut the door on a resource that I think is very important in the process,” Lawrason said Thursday. “I do not agree at all with Montgomery’s statements on making them a quasi-governmental body.”