Simi Council Names Davis to Vacant Council Seat

The Simi Valley City Council voted Monday night to appoint Bill Davis, a 58-year-old electronics repairman and member of the city’s planning commission, to a vacant seat on the council, over the objections of Mayor Greg Stratton.

The council voted 3 to 1 to name Davis to the two-year vacancy left when Stratton was elected mayor Nov. 4. Stratton replaced former Mayor Elton Gallegly, who was elected to Congress.

City Hall officials said 15 to 20 applicants had been considered for the job, but the appointment took up only 15 minutes of the council’s meeting and provoked little discussion.

Davis got the nod because “he can hit the ground running,” said Councilman Glen McAdoo.

Stratton, who cast the lone vote against Davis’s appointment, nominated a longtime friend and former council member, Robert O. Huber, because, he said, “We need somebody who is familiar with council business.”

Represented Builders

But the other council members rejected Huber, an attorney, because he has represented the building industry before the City Council, which could be controversial because of the political importance of development issues in the city, the council majority contended.

Davis will be sworn in next Monday night. After that, the council is to consider a replacement for him on the planning commission.

Under the California Government Code, the City Council had a month from the day the vacancy became official--when Stratton was sworn in as mayor last Monday--to name a replacement.

The council had a choice between appointing a new council member or scheduling a special election for either March 3 or June 2, the next two dates legally available to the city under the California Elections Code.

In a meeting last week, the council decided to fill the two remaining years of Stratton’s council term by appointment rather than pay the estimated $38,000 cost of another election. Council members also said they did not want the seat to remain vacant four to five months.