CASTAIC : Residents Elect 10 to Town Council

Castaic residents have elected 10 representatives to the area’s first Town Council in hopes of giving the unincorporated community’s 9,000 residents a greater political voice.

The Town Council will have no law-making powers but will make recommendations to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and represent the area in discussions with the neighboring city of Santa Clarita.

Voters selected the 10 council members from a field of 15 candidates on Tuesday.

Representing the Live Oak area are Mary Aurit, a member of the Town Council Formation Committee, and Lester Freemen, a member of the Castaic Union School District; representing the Hasley Canyon area are businessman Thomas D. Barnett and Richard Massey, who has lived in the area for 14 years, and representing the central Castaic area are Gene R. Bloom, a business manager and three-year resident, and Gloria E. Mercado, a lifelong Castaic resident and assistant principal in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Representing the north Castaic area are Samuel Ara Azhderian Jr., who helped create a water improvement district in Castaic, and Jackie Santoro, a longtime volunteer at local schools. Representing the Val Verde area are Edwin Seth Brown, a 22-year resident, and Elijah J. Canty, a 25-year resident and member of the Val Verde Civic Assn.

The first meeting of the group has been tentatively scheduled for July 13 at Live Oak Elementary School.