Panel Approves Referendum on Sales Tax for Jail
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TUSTIN — In a dramatic victory for Sheriff Brad Gates, the Orange County Regional Justice Facilities Commission today unanimously authorized a May 14 sales tax referendum, giving voters a chance to decide a jail construction question that has befuddled officials for nearly 13 years.
The commission’s 5-0 vote came shortly after 28 of Orange County’s 29 mayors met to select two of the panel members. Supervisors Harriett M. Weider and Roger R. Stanton, both of whom favor a proposed half-cent tax to build and operate a jail near Anaheim, were joined on the panel by La Palma Mayor Keith Nelson and Irvine Mayor Sally Anne Sheridan.
Those four officials then quickly met and selected a fifth commission member, Wylie Aitken, former president of a trial lawyers’ association and a resident of Anaheim Hills, which borders a proposed jail site in Gypsum Canyon.
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