1992 Elections : Sierra Madre City Council

Population: 10,762

There are four candidates for two City Council vacancies.

Mayor Roy Buchanan cannot run again because of a two-term limit approved by voters two years ago.

City Clerk Nancy Shollenberger and Treasurer Douglas C. Berkshire are running unopposed.

The council candidates are:

* George A. Maurer

Background: A one-term incumbent, is running on the current council’s record of enacting one of the region’s toughest hillside development ordinances and establishing a mountain conservancy fund to buy and preserve hillside land.

Remarks: “There really isn’t much in the way of issues this time,” said Maurer, 69, a restaurant host. “We’re not in dire financial straits, and we’re making progress with (repaving) roads and streets and things.”

* Toby Boothroyd

Background: A business manager for the Auto Club, wants to begin a series of workshops and meetings on the theme of “Sierra Madre 2000,” allowing residents to give their ideas on what the city’s priorities should be.

Remarks: “The city can’t please all the people all the time,” says Boothroyd, 46, who ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat in 1980 against former Republican state Sen. H. L. Richardson, losing by more than a 3-1 margin. “Priorities can’t be established arbitrarily, they need to be thoughtfully planned. You can’t just react to crises as they come up.”

* Jack Grotwiel

Background: An architectural designer, is concerned about losing street trees because of plans to repave Orange Grove Boulevard and has some suggestions for drought contingencies.

Remarks: “Go ahead and pave the street, but don’t destroy the trees,” said Grotwiel, 64, whose father was a Red Car conductor on the Sierra Madre route and who has lived in the city for 33 years. City government should operate more efficiently than it does, the candidate says, although he concedes that the election is not being hotly contested. “All the candidates like each other,” he said.

* Orville Lee Cline, 69

Background: A retired tool and die maker, is concerned about maintaining Orange Grove Boulevard as a “country lane type of road” and with maintaining the city’s “village atmosphere.”

Remarks: Cline says the City Council must find a solution to drought problems because water costs are so expensive. “We have to explore other water sources,” he said. He promised that if he is elected, he will oppose plans to widen Orange Grove Boulevard.