WESTMINSTER : Council Votes to Give Gillespie Exemption

Councilwoman Lyn Gillespie may have her term of office extended to four years after the City Council moved to repeal an 1986 ordinance limiting her term to only two years.

The council voted 3 to 1 this week to rescind the ordinance and to place the issue before voters on the November ballot. Final approval rescinding the ordinance will come within two weeks.

Gillespie’s term would have expired this November due to the ordinance that limited her, as the winning candidate with the least number of votes in the 1988 general election, to a two-year term.

The council passed that ordinance to make two council seats open at every election and correct a present imbalance where three City Council seats are open in one election and only one in the next.

Gillespie, 34, had stated earlier that she was considering filing a lawsuit challenging the legality of the ordinance.

City Atty. Richard Jones told the council that Gillespie may have the basis for a lawsuit and referred to a 1973 opinion from the California attorney general’s office that said a general law city is not empowered to reduce the term of a council member from four to two years.

Mayor Charles V. Smith moved to place the issue before the voters because of the legal uncertainties.

“I think there’s definitely a cloud on this issue. If we’re going to remove the cloud, I think we should put the issue on the ballot,” he said.

Councilwoman Anita Huseth voted against repealing the ordinance.

“The only person who could benefit if we repeal it is Councilwoman Gillespie,” Huseth said. “I think it’s a political ploy and should have been challenged when she ran. I think it shows favoritism and is unethical.”

Three candidates who were defeated in the 1988 election that placed Gillespie on the council also spoke out against the council’s action.

“I was well aware that I would be serving two years if I came in third,” said Margie Rice, a defeated candidate in 1988. “I don’t feel Gillespie has any right to demand two more years.”

Former Councilman Allen Pace, who was appointed to the council in April, 1988, to fill an unexpired term but lost his bid to be elected in his own right, said the council should be more concerned about a possible lawsuit filed by losing candidates than one filed by Gillespie.

Members of a crowd of about 40 mobile home residents spoke against rescinding the ordinance at the meeting and jeered the council after its vote. Many are opposed to Gillespie because of contributions mobile home park owners have made to her past campaigns.

“This is a bait-and-switch game,” resident Gerald Grimm said. “We’ve got to have some standards by which this city operates.”

Gillespie said she was advised by the city attorney not to comment on the action until it is given final approval by the council.