Parks Appears to Be City’s Next Mayor

City Councilwoman Linda Parks will likely succeed Councilman Michael Markey as the next mayor of Thousand Oaks, according to a survey of council hopefuls who appear to have won seats in Tuesday’s election.

Parks, who now serves as mayor pro tem and runs council meetings when Markey cannot attend, is next in line for the mayor’s seat.

The seat is rotated each year to one of the council’s five members.

While the results of Tuesday’s election are not yet final, Parks appears to have the support of a council majority for the top spot.

That support includes the council’s newest members.

Dan Del Campo, Parks’ close political associate, appears to have captured acouncil seat--he is currently leading incumbent Judy Lazar by 334 votes. However, more than 6,800 absentee ballots remain to be counted.

In addition, first-place finisher Dennis Gillette said last week that he is inclined to give Parks the nod in the interest of launching a new spirit of cooperation among council members.

“At this point right now I see no reason why the orderly transition should not occur,” said Gillette, who campaigned on a platform of restoring civility to council meetings that are often disrupted by political bickering.

“We have a process in place, and it seems to me at this point that pursuing that in an orderly manner would be in the best interest of the city.”

The selection of mayor is expected at the council’s Nov. 24 meeting, following the swearing in of Gillette and Del Campo.