Tustin : Saltarelli Quitting as Mayor, City Councilman

After 15 years on the City Council, real estate agent Donald J. Saltarelli, 45, said he will resign from the five-member board after its scheduled April 6 meeting.

Saltarelli was serving his fourth term as mayor when he made the surprise announcement during a council meeting Monday, a city spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The council elected 11-year Councilman Richard B. Edgar to succeed him as mayor.

Saltarelli, owner of a Tustin real estate agency, said he is retiring from the council because he wants to spend more time with his family and is moving to the city of Orange next month.

“I hope I’m going to have a little more (free) time,” Saltarelli said Tuesday. “Fifteen years is a very long time in public office.”

During his tenure as mayor--four terms encompassing eight years in the largely ceremonial office--Saltarelli proposed what local agencies called one of the most far-reaching drug-testing programs considered by any Orange County city.

Under his proposal, drug screening--including lie-detector tests--would be mandatory for all Tustin municipal employees and elected officials, and both background checks and lie-detector tests would be required for all future city job applicants.

It was adopted last Sept. 3, but on the advice of the city attorney, provisions for lie-detector tests and background checks were dropped.

Saltarelli said he had fulfilled all of his goals for the city. “I finally, after 15 years, feel very strongly that I have done what I set out to do--brought it from a very small, inefficient little city to a vibrant, active community, full service in every respect,” he said. “When I came, City Hall was a trailer.”

Saltarelli was accused last April of committing perjury during a petition drive to place a City Council candidate on the ballot, but after an investigation, Deputy Dist. Atty. Maurice L. Evans said the councilman was cleared of any wrongdoing. “There was no criminal violation,” Evans said.

The council has made no plans as yet to replace Saltarelli.