ELECTIONS: SAN GABRIEL VALLEY : Voters in 3 Cities to Fill Council Seats; Utility Tax Is on the Ballot in San Gabriel : Races: Council members will be elected by district for the first time in Pomona. Pasadena school board vacancies at stake.

Voters in Pasadena, Pomona and Rosemead will elect city council members Tuesday, while San Gabriel residents will consider a utility tax and a small neighborhood between San Marino and Pasadena will decide whether to transfer from one school district to another.

The Pomona election will be a milestone in the city’s history, marking the first time council members are elected by district. Four council seats and the mayor’s office are at stake.

In Pasadena, voters in four of the seven districts will elect members of the city Board of Directors. Five candidates are competing in District 1 to succeed John Crowley, who is retiring after 12 years in office.

The contenders are Nina Chomsky, a corporate tax and real estate attorney; Nicholas T. Conway, a municipal auditor; Sally Mosher, an attorney; Isaac Richard, a housing consultant, and Millie Lee, administrator of an alcohol recovery house. Lee is listed on the ballot as Millie Lee (White), with her maiden name in parentheses. Unless one of the candidates receives more than 50% of the vote, the two top vote-getters will meet in a runoff on April 16.

Director William Paparian is unopposed in District 4, but incumbent Rick Cole is being challenged in District 2 by Ed Bryant, a municipal court counselor. Incumbent Kathryn (Katie) Nack is facing Paul Hrabal, a financial counselor, in District 6.

Also on the Pasadena ballot is a City Charter amendment to bring the Fire and Police Retirement System into compliance with federal tax rules. The changes are designed to maintain the system’s tax-exempt status.

Voters in the Pasadena Unified School District, which includes Sierra Madre and Altadena as well as Pasadena, will elect two board members. A runoff will be held between the two top finishers in each race if no one receives a majority of the votes.

Elbie Hickambottom, who has been in Office 4 for 12 years, is seeking a fourth term against E. Clark Coberly, an attorney and businessman, and Dan Wimberly, a real estate developer and substitute teacher.

Three candidates are competing for the vacant seat of Office 2. They are George Van Alstine, a church minister; Chris Cofer, a bank service representative, and Glenn E. Taylor, an attorney.

Residents in a 71-home neighborhood known as the Greenwood Addition will vote on a proposal to transfer the area from the Pasadena Unified School District to the San Marino Unified School District. An estimated 46 children live in the area, but only one currently attends a Pasadena public school.

In Rosemead, voters will have a choice of three candidates in selecting a successor to Councilman Robert DeCocker, who died Oct. 19 of complications from a brain tumor. His widow, Jean, is seeking the office against Margaret Clark, a planning commissioner, and Joe Vasquez, a Rosemead school board member. The winner will complete a term that expires in April, 1992.

San Gabriel voters will determine the fate of Proposition A, a measure to levy a 5% tax on utility bills. City officials say the tax would cost the average household $7 to $9 a month and raise up to $1.2 million a year. To pass, the measure must be approved by a majority of voters.

In Pomona, Mayor Donna Smith is seeking a third two-year term against Councilman Tomas Ursua and four other challengers: Stewart A. Alexander, a marketing consultant; Wayne S. Fowler, an electronics technician; Hal Jackson, a prison chaplain, and Abe Tapia, a business and financial consultant.

The winner of the mayoral race will be elected by a citywide vote, but all other council members will be elected by district under a reorganization plan approved by voters last year. The council will be expanded from four members plus the mayor to six plus the mayor when the election winners are seated in April.

Councilwoman Nell Soto is running for a second term in District 1 against three opponents: Robert Jackson, a junior high school teacher; Reyes Rachel Madrigal, a community college teacher, and Timothy Smith, an air-conditioning technician.

In District 4, where Councilman Mark A. T. Nymeyer is not seeking reelection, there are five names on the ballot: Jerry A. Keane, a planning commissioner; Paula Hastings Lantz, an infant educator; Penni Moffatt, owner of a skin-care clinic; Rebecca A. Ryan, an adult education teacher, and William Paul Shelton, a businessman.

District 5, which includes Phillips Ranch and the Westmont area, and District 6, which takes in the area north of the San Bernardino Freeway, are newly created districts that do not have incumbents.

Charles Blanton, a planning commissioner, and Ken West, a fiscal administrator with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, are running in District 5. The winner will serve a two-year term. Council terms are usually four years, but the term in District 5 was set for two years to place the city on a schedule that will put three council races on the ballot every two years.

Running in District 6 are Edward S. Cortez, a planning commissioner; Stephen Quintero, a college student; Robert L. Stoddard, a salesman, and Willie E. White, outreach director at the Pomona Valley YMCA.

Pomona candidates must receive more than 50% of the votes to be declared winners. Otherwise, the top two finishers will meet in runoffs April 16.

Polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. in Rosemead and 8 p.m. in Pasadena, Pomona and San Gabriel.