Countywide : County School Board Election Effort Fails

A small group seeking to force a special election to fill a seat on the county Board of Education failed to get the required number of signatures by the Monday deadline.

Petitioners, who needed 3,149 names, object to the appointment of Sheila Meyers for Trustee District 2, the north coastal area of the county. They argue that the county board should not have extended the application deadline for the job and should not have referred to the applicants by number instead of name during public discussion--leaving the audience in the dark, attorney James J. Slaven said.

Slaven said he sent a letter to the board on May 5 asking members to “correct” their actions. If the board does not respond in 30 days, Slaven said, he plans to file a lawsuit against it.

Board member Francis Hoffman, the only member who voted against Meyers’ appointment last month, had supported the petition drive.

Garden Grove resident Thomas Murphy began the petition drive to prevent Meyers from filling the seat vacated by the Feb. 13 death of Murphy’s wife, Frances.

Hoffman said the district attorney’s office is investigating possible misdemeanor violations of the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law. Wallace J. Wade, a deputy district attorney, would not comment Monday on whether that is true.