TUSTIN : Petition Drive Opens on Election Change

A group of Tustin residents has kicked off a referendum effort to reverse the City Council’s decision to move local elections from November to April.

The change was approved unanimously by the council Monday night with members Earl J. Prescott and John Kelly absent from the meeting.

Although the council majority says that April elections cost less for candidates and allow greater focus on local issues, residents Berklee Maughan, Carole Bryant, Nova Pack and Mark Bachan disagree.

Supported by Prescott and Kelly, they say that November elections cost the city less and attract more voters to the polls. And changing now will allow challengers only four months to organize their campaigns, putting them at a disadvantage, Maughan said.

The group has until Dec. 20 to gather 2,056 signatures from registered Tustin voters.

“We’re starting to collect signatures (now),” Maughan said, in a planned door-to-door campaign to drum up support.

“I am very optimistic. We’ve had a good response,” he added.

If the group collects enough signatures, the decision would be suspended and the council would have two options--repealing the ordinance or calling a special election on the issue.

Kelly and Prescott say the council’s 3-0 decision to shift elections might become moot anyway. They have challenged Councilman Ronald B. Hoesterey’s right to vote at Monday’s meeting because they say he was no longer a Tustin resident at the time.

If a Superior Court rules in their favor Jan. 17, they say the council’s decision would be subject to challenge because no quorum would have existed at the meeting.

Hoesterey submitted a letter of resignation Tuesday because he is moving out of the city, but he maintains that he was still a Tustin resident at the time of the vote.

Tustin is the first city in the county to move its election from November to April rather than vice versa. Most cities have consolidated local elections with November general elections.