Anaheim Rejects Move for Study of City Charter

Saying a major overhaul of city government would cause more problems than it would solve, the Anaheim City Council on Tuesday rejected a proposal to appoint a committee to study ways the city charter might be changed.

Councilmen William D. Ehrle and Fred Hunter, who voted for the proposal, had argued that the city’s charter, last revised in 1974, was due for review because the city has outgrown its present form of administration.

Ehrle, who proposed the charter revision, had suggested a number of changes that he said would lead to more diverse and accountable representatives and would increase the role of citizens in local government.

Among the suggestions were increasing the number of council seats from five to seven, selecting some council members from districts, electing a full-time council and electing a full-time mayor separate from the council.

“This city has grown to the point that we should compare ourselves to cities like Los Angeles and Sacramento,” Ehrle said. “There are a number of things we can do that would make us more representative and allow local government to run more smoothly.”

However, Mayor Ben Bay and council members Irv Pickler and Miriam Kaywood voted against the proposal, arguing that the city’s charter needed no major revisions. Pickler and Kaywood also suggested that several of the proposed changes would politicize city operations.

Adopting district elections would lead to “petty politics and favoritism and move the city in the wrong direction,” Pickler said.

The proposals had also drawn fire from the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. Executive Director Allan B. Hughes said the changes would foster a “parochial” attitude and possibly threaten to dismantle the city’s current city-manager controlled administration.

However, several citizens groups indicated that they would support the charter revisions as a way to gain a greater voice in council decisions.