SAN CLEMENTE : Ex-Mayor Koester Mulls Council Race

Former mayor Karoline Koester has joined the list of possible candidates for two City Council seats in the Nov. 3 election.

“I’m not happy with the way the council is responding to the issues of the day,” said Koester, who picked up her candidacy papers late Tuesday afternoon. “I feel there is too much of a rubber stamp (attitude) going on with the council.”

Koester, who served on the City Council from 1979 to 1986, including a year as mayor in 1980, said one of her top concerns is the intensity of hotel development proposed in the city’s historic seaside Pier Bowl area. Koester, a homemaker, has lived in San Clemente since 1970.

If she returns her nomination papers, it would be the first time Koester, who attends virtually every council meeting, will have campaigned for a council position since she was defeated in 1986.

So far, council members Candace Haggard and Scott Diehl are the only others to have picked up candidacy papers for the election. Candidates have until Aug. 7 to turn in their papers.

The city clerk and treasurer positions are also up for election in November. City Clerk Myrna Erway and John Koch, a self-employed computer consultant, are the only ones so far to have picked up candidacy papers for the clerk’s position.

Koch, a member of Concerned Citizens, a group formed last year, said he decided he’d rather run for city clerk than for a council position.

“I think there is a real void on information flowing to the citizens,” Koch said.

So far no one has picked up candidacy papers for the city treasurer position.