LOCAL ELECTIONS / SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO COUNCIL : Women Are Expected to Make a Big Impact : Five of eight candidates are females, prompting some observers to call this the year of the woman.

Two results of the November City Council election have already been decided: The council is assured of a new face for only the fourth time in 12 years, and the familiar face of longtime City Councilman Kenneth B. Friess will be gone.

Friess, 50, will end 19 consecutive years of city service when he leaves the council next month, including nearly 17 years as a council member and two years on the city Planning Commission.

Friess’ departure comes during what some say is the year of the woman in San Juan Capistrano. Although San Juan Capistrano is the only city in the county that has never had a female council member, five of the eight candidates running for two open seats on Nov. 3 are women.

More important, two of the three candidates considered the front-runners in the race are women, Collene Thompson Campbell and Carolyn J. Nash. Both are former city planning commissioners, and both are well-known and have strong followings in the community.

Philosophically, however, both are coming from different ends of the political spectrum. Campbell, who ran a strong race for a council seat when she finished fourth in 1990, is considered part of the city establishment and has the support of many former council members, including Friess and Larry Buchheim.

“I’ve got a great deal of experience in this city, and I’d like to put my knowledge and contacts to work here,” Campbell said.

Nash, the wife of former mayor Doug Nash, spent much of her time on the Planning Commission bucking the city powers. She quit abruptly in 1991 after claiming that some developers were getting favorable treatment at the expense of the city.

Her current run is based on a return to the issues of slow growth and historical preservation, as outlined in the city’s General Plan, as well as opening the lines of communication in City Hall.

“There has been a whole system set up so information gets out of City Hall only through channels,” Nash said. “Staff has not been allowed to communicate freely. I think it’s time to change that.”

The other leading candidate is appointed incumbent Jerry V. Harris, who was picked by the council last December to finish out the term of the retiring Buchheim. Harris, the owner of Rancho Sierra Vista Equestrian Center, says the economy should be the year’s top issue.

“We all want to preserve the downtown. It’s just a matter of sitting down together and figuring out how we should do it,” Harris said. “But the big issue now is how we can continue to pay for the services the residents of this city have grown to expect.”

The race’s dark horse could be Stan Kensic, a former member of the Los Angeles Police Department who retired and moved to the city 4 1/2 years ago. Kensic has won the support of many historical preservationists and has been walking the precincts in hopes of making up for his lack of time in the community.

“I think we need to preserve the ambience and authenticity of this community. After all, that’s the hallmark of San Juan Capistrano,” Kensic said.

Of the remaining candidates, Darlene Perrault, a popular 30-year San Juan Capistrano resident known as “Darlene the Monogrammer” because of her downtown monogramming business, is considered another dark-horse candidate. Perrault’s chief issue is downtown preservation.