IRVINE : Vardoulis to Take Council Seat Today
Bill Vardoulis, who won a City Council seat in the Nov. 6 election, is scheduled to be sworn into office this afternoon and participate in his first council meeting in six years.
Vardoulis, 52, bested four other candidates in the special election to fill the fifth council seat. That seat has remained open since July, when Sally Anne Sheridan resigned to become mayor.
Vardoulis, a council member from 1976 to 1984, has said he will take a conservative approach to city government and will try to cut spending. Next spring, the council will be considering the city’s 1991-93 two-year budget.
The open seat, with two years remaining on its term, was a hot political topic in the city during the summer and fall after two lawsuits and one petition were filed to define who would take the seat.
In August, a Superior Court judge ruled that the open seat belonged to Mary Ann Gaido, who had sued the city to overturn a citizens’ petition calling for a special election. Gaido, as the runner-up in the June council race, would have taken the seat had the petition not been filed. The city won an appeal of the ruling in October, putting the election back on track.
Vardoulis won the election with 11,409 votes, a handy margin over his nearest competitor, Michael Tague, who received 7,647 votes.
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