THE CANDIDATES

The Times asked the 25 Santa Clarita city council candidates several questions about themselves and the proposed city. Following are edited excerpts from their answers. The questions were:

What goals should the first city council strive toward?

Do you favor the election of city council members by district or at large?

Why do you believe you would be a good city council member?

CARL BOYER III

HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER

Goals: Stable transition as our government forms and services shift. The city council will have a problem solving growth without a moratorium, which would hurt many residents in building trades and related fields.

Election: At large. With districts, we would re-create the Los Angeles County mess again.

Qualifications: I have the most experience in elected public office of any candidate (11 years, school and water boards), as county commissioner and as moderator to town meetings. I am a pragmatic moderate.

Profile: Age 49; San Fernando High School government teacher; Newhall resident; BS, Cal State Northridge; former member of Santa Clarita Community College District and the Castaic Lake Water Agency boards; active in many civic and community organizations.

LOUIS E. BRATHWAITE.

FEDERAL PROPERTY ADMINISTRATOR

Goals: Solving the traffic congestion problems on the main arteries. Opening cross-valley roads and secondary bypasses. Completing the city by starting the annexation process to reclaim areas cut from our original boundary proposal.

Election: At large, preventing costly, time-consuming redistricting as we grow.

Qualifications: I have worked for this community as an elected school board member, a director of the Boys and Girls clubs and Cityhood Formation Committee officer. That will be of value to our city.

Profile: Age 54; Valencia resident; studied business administration at USC and contract and property administration at the Air Force Institute of Technology; member, William S. Hart Union High School District board of trustees; active in many community and civic organizations.

WILLIAM J. BROYLES

SCHOOL DISTRICT MAINTENANCE WORKER

Goals: The first city council will have to come up with a long-range plan that is vital to the successful operation of our city. Continuing growth and expansion of the Santa Clarita Valley mandate that the council develop a constructive plan that will enable us to meet our people’s needs effectively and economically.

Election: I have no preference, but the people in the community of Valencia would not like all five councilmen to come from Canyon Country or Saugus. I would like to see all areas represented.

Qualifications: I care about people. I’m a 23-year resident of the Santa Clarita Valley and love our valley. I would do my very best to see that we have a city of, by and for the people, and I would make sure all areas would be treated equally.

Profile: Age 48; Canyon Country resident; former president, Santa Clarita Community College District board of trustees; attended College of the Canyons and Glendale Community College.

H.G. (GIL) CALLOWHILL

RETIRED BUSINESS MANAGER

Goals: Get properly organized, agree on a council chairman, set a place to hold meetings and prepare for the transfer of government responsibilities, provide for a general manager, contract for legal and financial services and other legal requirements.

Election: At large. This area is growing so rapidly that any district created today would be outdated in a few months. This would be particularly true if there were annexations of large areas such as that area left out by LAFCO in Canyon Country.

Qualifications: I have lived in this valley 14 years and have worked on two county formation and three city formation committees. I worked on every expense budget preparation and understand how they are formulated. I have been particularly involved with the fire and police operations. I maintained the fire district maps as annexations were made.

Profile: Age 73; Saugus resident; elected to three terms on the Castaic Lake Water Agency board; active in several community groups.

JEFFREY D. CHRISTENSEN

GENERAL CONTRACTOR

Goals: Prepare a new master plan for the city, pull the four city areas--Valencia, Newhall, Saugus, Canyon Country--into one unified city and develop a system to relieve the transportation gridlock.

Election: At large. With the growth anticipated in this valley, the city council and voters would constantly be dealing with changing the district boundaries. We have the challenge to unite the valley into one city. Let’s not start off by splitting it.

Qualifications: I have a genuine concern for others. That quality coupled with a common-sense way of thinking makes me a viable candidate for city council.

Profile: Age 29; Newhall resident; served two-year mission for church; Boy Scout leader and youth adviser.

DENNIS CONN

RECREATIONAL CONSULTANT-PLANNER

Goals: Wisdom first, then personal visits to all nearby cities with proper education of exact facts and problems. Wisdom is very important.

Election: At large. Until our city, or if our city, ever needs districts, then and only then, we can add districts.

Qualifications: I was a good military policeman earning a secret clearance, all top awards and merits. Top finance and commercial agent, community leader, good organizational and sales ability, effective communication skills. I know how to work for our city’s benefit and proper development.

Profile: Age 40; Valencia resident; attended Central Texas College and Los Angeles Valley College; market private campground and resort memberships; managed retail shoe stores; founder, Private Resorts of America Inc.

JO ANNE DARCY

SUPERVISOR ANTONOVICH’S FIELD DEPUTY

Goals: Select the best-qualified, capable, creative city manager and city council possible. Complete review of present ordinances and the General Plan, accepting the best and improving the rest. Great emphasis should be placed on funding search for road and highway expansion and improvements along with incorporation of public-private revenue and expertise. We should prepare a step-by-step annexation plan for those areas most interested.

Election: At large. Majority opinion and expertise show this to be the only sensible approach for a contract city as we would become.

Qualifications: My vast experience as a senior board deputy, Chamber of Commerce executive manager and staff assistant to major corporations. I can be a valuable asset to the city in maintaining open channels of communication and rapport with county government. I know how to cut red tape, reach the right people and analyze problems and still maintain a compatible relationship with all government agencies.

Profile: Age 56; Saugus resident; attended Los Angeles and Santa Monica city colleges, completed classes at USC, UCLA and Cal State Northridge; 1984 Santa Clarita Valley Woman of the Year.

KENNETH DEAN

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER

Goals: Find the best city manager and city attorney. Work toward an annex plan to bring in to the city those areas left out. Work on the best contract for both sides with the fire and police protection. Start on the task of a budget and to work on new ordinance for the betterment of the city and its people overall.

Election: At large. The city is too small for members of the city council to be in office by districts.

Qualifications: I have always been involved in the issues affecting the State of California, its people, and the areas of which I have worked and lived. I am a person who can and does get things done. I know government. I know what we need, and I know how to get the things our city needs.

Profile: Age 48; Canyon Country resident; degree in design from LaSalle University; former candidate for state Assembly; active in many civic, professional, political and civic organizations.

MONTY HARRELL

BUSINESSMAN

Goals: Putting together a strong, competent city organization; hiring a top-notch, experienced city manager and a highly qualified city staff; establishing a five-year capital improvements program by identifying the most needed projects and committing future revenues to their completion; demonstrating that the new city can deliver quality services without taxing everything that doesn’t move fast enough to get away.

Election: At large. Districts tend to promote a “pork-barrel” approach to capital improvement projects.

Qualifications: I believe I have the knowledge and actual experience in city government, in particular municipal finance, that will be needed to meet the challenges of the new city.

Profile: Age 41; Valencia resident; MA in economics from the University of Wisconsin; former research and budget director, city of Ventura; former vice president, financial planning and analysis, Security Pacific National Bank; former budget analyst, city of Fort Worth, Tex.

JANICE HEIDT

COMMUNITY ACTIVIST

Goals: Hire a qualified, committed and professional city staff; prepare a valley-wide needs assessment on each area of infrastructure so we can establish both short-term and long-range priorities; make a maximum effort right from the beginning to involve citizens in city government through use of civic groups, service clubs, citizen committees and evening meetings.

Election: At large. All council persons should be responsible for the whole city.

Qualifications: My experience and track record. I don’t carry around any excess baggage of special interests to cloud my judgment. I’m not up for election so it isn’t necessary to tread the narrow path that will keep me in office. At this point in time, I have no aspiration to higher office.

Profile: Age 48; Canyon Country resident; BA in psychology, Michigan State University; former U.S. Navy officer; book store owner; founder, Santa Clarita Valley Homeowners Coalition.

BILL HILTON

MINISTER-BUSINESSMAN

Goals: To put in motion a city government that operates effectively and produces quality results. The responsibilities of hiring a city staff and establishing the foundations upon which a strong city government can grow are foremost challenges.

Election: Based upon the successes and failures of other California cities, it appears that the election of city council members on an at-large basis is preferable.

Qualifications: I’m a people person. My education, as well as my day-to-day experiences in my dual occupation, qualify me to serve the city well as a council member. I work with people daily in the board room, in the counseling office, in the sales room, on the ballfield and in the hospital. I work with people and know the needs of people. I can deal with a city budget, personnel problems and the basic issues of a city, with competency and insight.

Profile: Age 37; Valencia resident; BA from Pacific Christian College, MA in administration and Ph.D in philosophy, California Graduate School of Theology; senior pastor, Newhall Christian Church; active in various community organizations.

GAIL KLEIN

BUSINESSWOMAN

Goals: Adopt a city plan as soon as possible. (Possibly use the present Santa Clarita Valley general plan and fine-tune where needed.)

Election: Districts. Each area will be represented by an individual who lives there and knows, in details, the needs of that area.

Qualifications: Serving on the Santa Clarita Valley Planning Advisory Committee for seven years; dealing with county and state government to keep a toxic dump out of this valley; Marian La Follette’s representative to Los Angeles County Republican Party; working for the passage of Proposition 13; living in the Santa Clarita Valley for 13 years and knowing the needs of the community.

Profile: Age 40; Valencia resident; member, Santa Clarita Valley Planning Advisory Committee.

DENNIS M. KOONTZ

RETIRED FIRE CAPTAIN

Goals: To have all members committing themselves to a united effort to assess community needs with a community-wide attitude.

Election: At large. City council members should be responsible to the entire electorate so they would consider the entire city when making decisions. This would tend to unite rather than divide the people.

Qualifications: I have 20 years of public safety experiences, which included captain of a paramedic engine company. I represented over 10,000 police and firefighters as a member of the board of directors of the Los Angeles Fire and Police Protective League and United Firefighters of Los Angeles City. I have learned to listen, gather facts and respond to the needs of my constituents.

Profile: Age 47; Saugus resident; active in working with children in the Santa Clarita Valley.

MICHAEL D. LYONS

CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER

Goals: Adopt a citywide plan of realistic proportions, with realistic lower densities representative of the more rural-suburban nature of this valley and in keeping with its historical past and environmental needs.

Election: At large, to avoid precinct fighting.

Qualifications: I was born and raised in the Santa Clarita Valley 41 years ago, and I have been active in the community during my adult life. I feel that I have a genuine feeling for what this city should be, and my experience on the Planning Advisory Committee, as founding president of the friends of Lake Castaic and a board member of Galaxy Highlands Homeowners Assn., has given me the tools.

Profile: Age 41; Saugus resident; BA in history from Cal State Northridge; member, Santa Clarita Valley Planning Advisory Committee; active in various community, civic and environmental organizations.

ANDY MARTIN

INSURANCE BROKER

Goals: A one-year freeze on any building permits. Road widening and improvements. Commission a study on how to lower taxes. Hire an expert to review all polluting sources in this valley.

Election: At large. Antonovich and his four mental dwarf associates use districts to placate the people. After the vote, they go out, play tennis, have lunch and laugh at the people.

Qualifications: I am one of the original 10 that started this movement back in March, 1962, at the Newhall Water District office. I have the best background on cityhood. I have managed $8 billion, and I know how to keep proper control of tax money.

Profile: Age 63; Newhall resident; attended Furman University, USC and University of Northern Arizona; member, original cityhood group in 1962; member, state Democratic Central Committee; former board member, Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Administration; commissioner, state Senate task force on automobile and truck insurance; former member, Santa Clarita Valley Planning Advisory Committee.

HOWARD P. (BUCK) McKEON

BUSINESSMAN

Goals: Develop an efficient, fiscally sound city structure to administer policies for responsible growth, improved infrastructure and services that are responsive to the needs and concerns of the city’s residents.

Election: At large.

Qualifications: As president of the chain of Howard and Phil’s 30 retail outlets, headquartered in Canyon Country, and chairman and founding director of the new Valencia National Bank, I have the professional and financial management background that can be put to immediate service in organizing the new city. Working with schools and hospitals (both with budgets and staffs larger than the proposed city) and with our chambers of commerce has taught me that local control by local leaders is the best way to achieve local needs. If elected, I will resign from the school and hospital boards and devote my time and efforts to our new city.

Profile: Age 45; Canyon Country resident; BS in business from Brigham Young University; trustee, William S. Hart Union High School District; director and chairman, Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital board.

ROGER A. MEURER

CIVIL ENGINEER

Goals: To be functional as a true city as quickly as possible. Only then can we move forward to improve and maintain the quality of life in this valley.

Election: District representation gives the people more direct access to the council since they know who their own councilman is. The only drawback is that our area is growing fairly rapidly, and we may add land area as well. This will require frequent redistricting. At-large elections are easier but not as effective in operation.

Qualifications: I have owned my own engineering company since 1971 and have dealt with city and county governments through this entire period. I have initiated successful annexations and am familiar with the process. I am a moderate with slightly conservative tendencies. I work hard, and I get the job done.

Profile: Age 42; Saugus resident; BSE in civil engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Ind.; advance studies in waste-water management and hydraulics, Colorado State University; active in Santa Clarita Valley business community.

RONALD J. NOLAN

LAW CLERK

Goals: Organization; communication between developers, residents and city council; annexation of perimeter areas; contracts that will not bind the city long-term.

Election: At large. Each council member would therefore be responsible for every citizen’s well-being, not for just own constituents.

Qualifications: I work well behind the scenes for the public. I am not a candidate who puts on a facade or tries to get public attention to win. I am truly concerned, but not reactionary; conservative, but not unbending. I’ve worked with the city and county of Los Angeles in resolving contract disputes and liability matters. I know how to read the fine print in contracts so the new city will not contract for services it does not need, or fall into unfavorable contracts.

Profile: Age 28; Saugus resident; BA in political science, Cal State Northridge; JD, University of LaVerne-San Fernando Valley College of Law; law clerk for several area attorneys.

FRANK A. PARKHURST

ADVERTISING CONSULTANT

Goals: Organization of city government, roads, recreation for young and old. Protect the environment of the entire Santa Clarita Valley by suing the county if necessary.

Election: At large, to permit the city to be more cohesive.

Qualifications: I am willing to fight the county, through court action if necessary, to get more access roads from new developments and on other environmental issues. I will always be accessible to the people to hear and help them in their needs, both in dealing with the city and county.

Profile: Age 65; Saugus resident; attended Los Angeles City College; awarded Distinguished Flying Cross and five air medals as pilot in World War II.

VERNON H. PERA

SALES REPRESENTATIVE

Goals: Annex the populated parts of Canyon Country left out of the original city plan.

Election: At large for now. Eventually, when the city is expanded to include all of the Santa Clarity Valley, then maybe we should take a look at elections by districts.

Qualifications: My only interest is to see that the city is formed and run for the benefit of the people who make up this valley. I have no ties to any special-interest groups and am free to make decisions that will be beneficial to all the people of the valley without the feeling that toes of some special-interest group might be stepped on.

Profile: Age 45; Canyon Country resident; sales manager for an automotive equipment manufacturer.

ROBERT SILVERSTEIN

RETIRED MANUFACTURING ENGINEER

Goals: Obtain good, experienced city manager, city clerk and attorney. Establish priorities on urgent issues for the benefit of the newly formed city. Call upon the experience encountered by cities that recently incorporated in order to prevent the same mistakes from happening. Effectively implement and enforce the Los Angeles County Development Monitoring System recently adopted.

Elections: By district. This will enable the new city to have and function with equal area representation for each council person.

Qualifications: Worked as a manufacturing engineer and a department head for over 36 years for Rockwell International. Served as president of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce; board member, Friendly Valley Assns.; member, Santa Clarita Valley Planning Advisory Commission and North Los Angeles County Citizens Planning Committee.

Profile: Age 71; Newhall resident; volunteer, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department; active with various community organizations.

EDMUND G. STEVENS

SALES MANAGER

Goals: To select a good, honest city manager and establish a good, honest city government that will represent all the residents of our new city. To maintain our wonderful environment and to work with balance on all issues the city will face. We must have a compatible council to reach these goals.

Elections: At large to start, then see what the voters want in the future.

Qualifications: My age and the experience I have had with people. I want to keep this beautiful environment and to keep a good, well-managed city clean, free of crime for the residents who moved here expecting this. I believe I would be a good councilman--without any commitment to any one group or person, just the residents of Santa Clarita Valley.

Profile: Age 61, Newhall resident.

LINDA HOVIS STORLI

HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER

Goals: To unite the new city, maintaining the spirit and integrity of our communities. Hire a superbly qualified city manager and a finance manager. Develop a housing plan for the new city. Appoint advisory committees on youth, seniors, heritage, etc.

Elections: At large. We need to work as a city, to pull all the different communities together and work as one.

Qualifications: I have a background in government. I have a talent for cutting through red tape and helping others do so. I am qualified. As important as being qualified, I am fully prepared to put in the great amount of time and effort that will be necessary to make this city work.

Profile: Age 38; Valencia resident; government teacher, Canyon High School; B.A. in political science, Cal State Northridge; former member, Californa’s Selective Service Advisory Committee; head of Stop Smoking Clinic for students; member, steering committee, Drug Free Schools.

MAURICE D. UNGAR

LAND-USE CONSULTANT

Goals: Budget expenditures that optimize the community services. Regulation of city growth for planned use of infrastructure. Annexation of perimeter areas. Support for local business with no tax increase. Protection of the environment and preservations of our historical heritage.

Elections: At large, so the council represents a united city.

Qualifications: My innovative problem-solving ability and community activities during my 22 years as resident and business owner gives me a true sense of commitment for our hometown. My local involvements have given me the experience and ideas necessary to make sensible council decisions.

Profile: Age 52; Valencia resident; BS in psychology, Cal State Long Beach; owner, Ungar Realty; activist to save the oak trees, for animal rights and land planning; active on various chambers of commerce committees and other community groups.

RICHARD VACAR

AIRPORT MANAGER, LAWYER

Goals: First, to make the transition from county to local control over city affairs. This effort would include recruiting a city manager, attorney, finance manager and other key staff. Thereafter, to begin the process of establishing a city general plan to help rationalize future development.

Elections: At large, to encourage valley-wide thinking among political representatives and help provide the electorate with a generally more responsive council. Districts create parochial politics between districts and infighting among politicians.

Qualifications: In terms of experience, I manage daily a facility much like a city, namely an airline airport. It has a budget larger than the proposed city, a police and fire department, and all the administrative and financial problems any city would face. It is also a facility which must be responsible to a paying public.

Profile: Age 41; Valencia resident; JD, Loyola Law School; MS in business administration, Cal State Northridge; manager, airport affairs, Burbank Airport; airline transport pilot and flight instructor; member of several professional organizations.