SANTA ANA : Council Votes No on Ballot Measures

After a tense debate, the City Council voted this week against placing controversial amendments on the November ballot that would have extended the mayor’s term from two years to four and made it possible for the council to fire the city manager and city attorney with a simple majority vote.

In February, Councilmen John Acosta and Richards L. Norton voted not to extend City Manager David N. Ream’s three-year contract without an evaluation but they were on the losing end of a 5-2 vote. The councilmen also orchestrated an unsuccessful attempt to have City Atty. Edward J. Cooper placed on administrative leave last October.

Acosta said changing the firing procedure, which now requires a two-thirds vote of the council, would make both employees more responsive “to all members of the council.”

Acosta, Norton and Councilman Ron May voted to place the amendment on the ballot, but lost to the council majority.

Mayor Daniel H. Young said he didn’t want to make either the city manager’s or city attorney’s jobs “more political.”

“There should be some comfort that when you come to the office every day, that four votes aren’t going to collect on the horizon and you’re out the door,” Young said.

Young also voted against the effort to extend the mayor’s term in office. That plan was defeated 5 to 2.

Council members approved an amendment to require council approval of all new department heads. The city manager now has sole discretion in filling those jobs.

The amendments were recommended by the 14-member Charter Review Committee, which considered 39 issues suggested by committee members, council members, city staff and the public. Committee Chairman Hal Gosse Jr. said he is unhappy with the way the votes turned out.

“I don’t approve of the way they arrived at their conclusions,” Gosse said. “They brought in personalities, innuendo and took potshots. That’s not what the public demands out of their elected officials.”