TUSTIN : 2 Members Boycott Key Council Votes

For the first time in months, the City Council whizzed through its agenda Monday night, voting unanimously on issues that have divided it.

Just three council members were present. Councilmen John Kelly and Earl J. Prescott boycotted the meeting, after failing Monday to win a court injunction to prevent Councilman Ronald B. Hoesterey from voting.

“They’re taking their ball and going home,” Hoesterey said of the boycott.

The two had sought a temporary restraining order to prevent Hoesterey from acting as a councilman because they contend that he is no longer a legal resident.

Hoesterey announced recently that he is resigning because he is moving out of the city. Although his family has moved already and escrow has closed on his home in Tustin, he said he retained resident status by sleeping in a house he owns in Tustin that he is sharing with his mother-in-law.

Hoesterey said he has been doing some work on his new home and plans to submit his letter of resignation today.

With Prescott and Kelly absent, the remaining three members:

- Approved a regulation of news racks, requiring permits for racks on sidewalks. The new rules also prohibit display of sexually explicit material.

- Elected Richard B. Edgar as mayor and Ursula E. Kennedy as mayor pro tem.

- Approved a three-year contract for City Manager William A. Huston.

- Changed local elections from November of even-numbered years to April of even-numbered years. The cost of campaigning is less and the voters’ interest in local issues is greater in April, council members said.

- Approved a joint-powers agreement with Santa Ana creating a transportation system authority that will collect developer fees in both cities for street improvements.

Kelly and Prescott said they decided not to attend on the advice of their attorney, Gregory Hile, a former, unsuccessful council candidate.

Hile said that if the court determines Hoesterey was not eligible to vote at the meeting, all actions will be reversed because no quorum will have existed at the meeting.

“I am not going to take part in an illegal meeting,” Kelly said.

But Hoesterey said, “What occurred today was a final act of harassment by two councilmen who put their personal and political interests above those of the city.”

Although Superior Court Judge William F. Rylaarsdam said civil procedure prevented him from granting the restraining order, a hearing on the issue has been scheduled for Jan. 17.