Supervisors May Schedule Special Session for Election : Jails: It’s a race against the clock to back a May 14 date proposed by Sheriff Brad Gates for a sales tax referendum to build a new facility.

Some members of the County Board of Supervisors are considering a special session next week in an effort to set a May 14 sales tax referendum for jail construction, sources close to the board said Thursday.

Advocates of building a new jail in Gypsum Canyon, about 10 miles east of downtown Anaheim, are racing against the clock to back the referendum date, which is being pushed by Sheriff Brad Gates.

Gates proposed that date--which would coincide with a possible runoff election in the 35th Senate District--in a letter to the board Monday after a Times Orange County Poll showed strong support for a half-cent sales tax increase to pay for a new jail in Gypsum Canyon. A new facility is needed to ease severe overcrowding in the county’s jail system.

Since Gates sent his letter, top county officials have been scrambling to determine whether an election can be scheduled on such short notice.

“Based on the sheriff’s letter to the board, staff has been preparing a package of materials for the supervisors to consider at their meeting next week,” said County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider. “We’ve been having meetings on it, and we’re going to outline the board’s options for them.”

Schneider declined to comment in detail, saying that members of his staff had already met with some supervisors and planned to hold more briefings today.

The board has until Feb. 15 to set the May date for a special election, and that deadline has proved troublesome. The supervisors normally meet on Tuesdays, but they are not scheduled to hold a session on Feb. 12.

Without a special session, that would leave only Tuesday’s meeting, and officials said too many issues remain unresolved for the board to handle all of them at one session.

Even if the board hustles to make the Feb. 15 deadline, other questions remain:

* Would the tax proposal’s chances be hurt by appearing on the same ballot as the runoff in the 35th District Senate race? That district is centered in Anaheim, where opposition to a Gypsum Canyon jail is presumably strongest. A high turnout in that area might mean defeat for the tax measure.

* Will Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, a Gypsum Canyon supporter and advocate of the half-cent tax, be sufficiently recovered from his recent open-heart surgery to attend next week’s meetings? Without him, supporters of the canyon jail would lack a majority on the board, and that could doom the special election.

In addition, there are complicated legal issues.

Of particular concern is the question of what agency will formally propose the tax. Proposition 13, the landmark 1978 tax law, requires that if the Board of Supervisors proposes the measure and receives the money from it, the levy would need two-thirds approval by voters to pass. If an independent commission proposes it, however, the measure would only require a simple majority.

A two-thirds majority is considered nearly impossible to win, so a commission probably will need to be created, officials said. To do that, supervisors would likely appoint two members at their Tuesday session, and then let the Orange County League of Cities appoint another two. A fifth member from the public at large would also be appointed.

That five-member board would then meet to consider setting the May 14 special election for the tax. If it approves the election, the Board of Supervisors would then hold its special session later in the week--or perhaps Feb. 11--to rubber-stamp the election date.

All of that requires extraordinary speed and timing, but supporters of the tax remain confident.

“I have felt a very strong optimism today that this can happen,” Gates said late Thursday. “The Orange County team is pulling together the material for the board, and I believe we’ll be in good shape.”