WESTMINSTER : Petitions Submitted to Change Elections

A citizens group hoping to elect City Council members by district rather than at large has submitted petitions with more than 4,200 signatures.

The petition drive to change the voting procedure was launched in June by a group called the Non-Partisan Alliance for District Representation. Members say they want to make council members more responsive to voters, increase the odds for candidates from ethnic minorities and reduce the cost of campaigns and the influence of special interests.

The group is led by Tom Collacott, a 22-year resident of Westminster whose late brother, Connor Collacott, was once the city’s police chief.

Collacott, 63, said the new procedure would divide the city into five districts with about 8,000 residents in each. A City Council candidate would be elected by voters in the district in which they live.

It would also eliminate the election of mayor and leave the selection of the ceremonial post to the council.

“The reason people will vote for this is because they’re really tired of the representation Westminster has,” Collacott said. “They feel they have no touch with the council and aren’t able to reach them. This way, the council would get to know the people.”

Collacott lead a successful effort in 1982 to change the city’s elections from April to November.

At least 3,743 of the signatures, 10% of the city’s registered voters, must be certified by the county clerk before the initiative qualifies for the November ballot, said City Clerk Mary Lou Morey.

Mayor Charles V. Smith, who opposes the change, said, “I think when people find out what it really means, the initiative will fail. In 1984, the voters passed an initiative by a 2-1 margin to directly elect the mayor. Historically, voters do not like to give up the right to vote on something once they’ve been given that right.”

If the initiative is passed by the voters, Smith would not be eligible to run for reelection in November, 1990, because he lives in a district already occupied by a council member who is not up for reelection.

Smith added that the proposed change would place constraints on each member of the council.

“The way the system is set up now, any member of the council is available to anybody in the community,” he said.

Currently, only 20 of California’s 444 cities elect their city council members by districts.