ELECTIONS SANTA CLARITA COUNCIL : Incumbents Cite a Vote of Confidence

The reelection of two of three incumbents to the Santa Clarita City Council indicates that, contrary to the claims of seven challengers during the campaign, the public is largely satisfied with the council’s work, candidates and campaign workers said Wednesday.

Although Dennis Koontz was ousted from the council Tuesday night by Jill Klajic, his defeat was attributed to his uninspired performance as a councilman and the public’s displeasure over a publicized romantic relationship with a woman he appointed to the city Parks Commission.

Koontz’s private life became the subject of gossip and public debate more than a year ago and he acknowledged Wednesday that some voters apparently had not forgotten the episode.

Klajic, a self-described community advocate and businesswoman, has become best known for hounding the council during the past year about its reluctance to formally oppose a landfill planned for Elsmere Canyon, just outside the city limits. The council has since pledged to fight the dump.

Klajic was the top vote-getter among 10 candidates, winning 4,081 of the ballots cast. Also elected to four-year terms were Councilman Carl Boyer III, with 4,042 votes, and Mayor Jo Anne Darcy, with 3,548.

Koontz, with 2,155 votes, finished seventh. He trailed Kenneth Dean, with 3,015 votes; Vera Johnson, with 2,804 and Herb Wolfe, with 2,699.

Klajic and six other challengers repeatedly attacked the council for what they said were pro-growth policies, accusing the council of bowing to the interests of developers. The incumbents denied the allegations.

Klajic’s long record of civic activities in the Santa Clarita Valley gave her high name recognition among voters. Combined with her slow-growth platform, it made her a formidable candidate, Koontz and others said.

“Underlying the campaign was the issue of growth and Jill Klajic, the top vote-getter, that’s all she harped on,” Koontz said.

But Darcy and Boyer each have more than 20 years of civic activism in the region and election observers said their reputations helped them fend off the charges by challengers that they allowed builders to dictate city development policies.

Darcy is a field deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who is often blamed for many of the problems brought by growth in the Santa Clarita Valley.

But the reelection of Darcy and Boyer “tells us that across the valley . . . the voters are pretty happy with the council,” said Laurene Weste, a city parks commissioner who managed Boyer’s campaign.

Only 17.6% of 53,186 registered voters went to the polls Tuesday, and the low turnout, while disappointing, was an indirect vote of confidence for the City Council, Darcy said. If the public were truly angry, she said, more citizens would have voted.

Koontz’s personal life became a public issue last year when Councilwoman Jan Heidt, then serving as mayor, said she often received complaints from the public about the affectionate public behavior of Koontz and his fiance, Linda Storli. Koontz and Storli, although separated from their spouses, were not yet divorced.

“This is a very ‘churchy’ community’ ” and the relationship offended some people, said a Santa Clarita political activist, who asked not to be identified. “Dennis had created a negative thing and he couldn’t recover.”

But Klajic attributed Koontz’s loss to a lackluster record as a councilman. “I don’t remember anything Dennis ever did,” Klajic said. “What has Dennis done for two years?”

Klajic, a frequent and vocal council critic for more than a year, acknowledged that the reelection of Darcy and Boyer demonstrated that the “community as a whole still has respect for the City Council and would still like to see them in place.”

A review of precinct returns Wednesday showed that, with minor exceptions, Boyer, Klajic and Darcy received strong support from all parts of the city.

The final vote totals for the remaining candidates were Linda Calvert, 1,772; Andy Martin, 1,643 and Wayne Carter, 983.