Fillmore’s Council Says Run Again or Don’t Vote

The Fillmore City Council has voted to postpone action on three major city issues until after the November elections, maintaining that two of the council’s five members can no longer be held accountable to voters because they are not seeking reelection.

The delay was approved 3 to 0 at a meeting Tuesday night. Mayor Gary Creagle and Councilman Pat Quinn, who are not seeking reelection, were out of town and did not attend. They could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The delay was proposed by Councilman Roger Campbell, a critic of Creagle. It affects votes on possible changes in the city’s growth rate, on whether to allow a card casino in the city and on whether to spend additional city funds on a study of a proposed municipal airport.

Of those, the growth rate is considered the most critical.

A city ordinance limits growth to 70 new housing units a year. But there is pressure to raise the limit, which already has been reached for 1988. Developers have announced plans for about 1,500 new housing units, including 1,100 in the Fillmore Meadows housing project.

City Atty. Joseph Kern said the vote to postpone any action on the three issues is not binding and could be scrapped by a simple majority vote at another meeting.

Joining Campbell in approving the motion were council members Delores Day and John Murphy. Campbell’s term of office also expires this year, but he is seeking reelection.

Campbell opposes the card casino because he believes it would attract “the wrong type of people” to Fillmore.

The delay is not likely to affect an airport feasibility study, said City Manager Stan Greene. The city is still awaiting approval of a $200,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The council instructed city staff to continue work on all city business, specifying that the delay applies to council action only.