Santa Ana OKs Petition Signature Count

The Santa Ana City Council on Saturday agreed to allow petitions from a citizens’ group to be counted, beginning today.

The petitions submitted by the Santa Ana Merged Society of Neighbors were rejected last Wednesday by City Clerk Janice Guy, on the city’s attorney’s advice, because of errors in form.

But on Friday, the group delivered the more than 7,000 signatures to the county registrar of voters, and Mayor Dan Griset said he would ask his colleagues to allow the counting of signatures to start.

John Acosta who cast the only vote against Griset’s recommendation Saturday, said, “It seems that the mayor seems to think that its OK to bend the rules a little bit. I don’t think that’s proper. We’re establishing a precedent at that point to say it’s OK to break the law a little bit.”

The vote was taken at a special council meeting at the Grand Plaza Hotel in Santa Ana that was called to discuss other matters.

The registrar’s office was to begin validating the signatures today, and Griset called a special council meeting for Tuesday night to receive a report on the counting.

The petitions call for a vote in June on whether the mayor should be directly elected and council members be chosen by wards.

“The council’s view was that the substance of this effort was important enough to require the validation process,” Griset said.

The group’s proposals will be placed on the June ballot if the petitions contain 6,288 valid signatures of registered voters, Griset said.

“But I’m sure there will be substantial debate on the merit and demerits of the program” at Tuesday night’s meeting, the mayor said.

Jim Lowman, a spokesman for the group, said of Saturday’s vote: “We’re very happy that they recognize the voice of the people when they hear it. I really couldn’t add anymore to that.” The petition count will cost the city about $6,300.

Lowman said that if the petitions don’t contain 6,288 valid signatures, his group “probably” will abandon the June target and aim at a future election.