Anaheim : Council Still Deadlocked on Filling Vacant Seat

A divided City Council rejected 15 more nominees for a vacant fifth council seat Tuesday, then deadlocked again over whether to call a special election to fill the vacancy.

During bitter debate reminiscent of a council meeting two weeks ago, Mayor Pro Tem Miriam Kaywood and Councilman Irv Pickler, between them, nominated 15 community leaders for the seat left vacant by former Mayor Don R. Roth’s election to the county Board of Supervisors.

In the meeting two weeks ago, Kaywood and Pickler had nominated five people, each of whom went down on a 2-2 split vote. At the time, Mayor Ben Bay and newly elected Councilman Fred Hunter said they would only consider the appointment of William D. Ehrle, who came in fourth in the Nov. 4 race for three council seats.

On Tuesday, Bay and Hunter refused to vote on each of the 15 additional nominees, saying they did not plan to change their minds. Instead, Bay proposed that the council take a vote on the nominees as a group. Over Pickler’s and Kaywood’s objections, the council deadlocked 2-2 on the group of 15 nominees.

Bay and Hunter proposed setting a special election, but Kaywood and Pickler rejected the move. Pickler said he was still “hoping beyond hope” that the four council members could agree on a replacement for Roth without having to call a special election.

The council has until Feb. 24 to agree on a council appointee, or a special election automatically will be set to fill the vacancy at the next county election on June 2.

The community leaders nominated Tuesday were: Mary Bouas, Fred Brown, Bob Hostetter, Herb Leo, Earl C. McBurney, Judy Olson, Janet Parry, Cal Pebley, Al Peraza, Mary Ruth Pinson, Bill Ranney, Donna Riddell, Walt Smith, Les Welch,, and Burr Williams.