ELECTIONS : 1 Council, 3 School Board Seats Contested : Politics: The campaigns have been cordial and low-key. Sound fiscal planning and racial harmony are central themes.

Incumbents seeking reelection Nov. 3 to one seat on the City Council and three on the Board of Education are facing vigorous campaigns by one challenger in each race.

Llewellyn Chin, a lawyer, is challenging City Councilman Boyd G. Condie, who is seeking a second four-year term in District 4. If elected, Chin would be the first Asian-American on the City Council.

Vincent Chow, a theater manager and school district volunteer, is trying to unseat one of three incumbents in the school board race.

There will be no election for Council District 3, because Mayor Talmage V. Burke, whose 10th four-year term expires in November, was not challenged in his bid for reelection. Burke is exempt from the three-term limit because he was already in office when it was adopted.

The campaigning has been cordial and low-key in both races, with challengers and incumbents all agreeing on the need for sound fiscal planning and efforts to promote harmony among ethnic groups. The city’s population numbers 84,506, of whom 36.1% are Latino ad 37.5% Asian.

In the council race, Chin, 35, is presenting himself as a good communicator who is sensitive to small business, while Condie emphasizes efforts to improve the quality of life.

Born in Vietnam of Chinese parents, Chin has lived in Alhambra for 13 years and practices law in his own firm in Los Angeles. He speaks Vietnamese, Chinese and English. He said he believes steps must be taken to improve communication between the city and its residents. He has proposed a 24-hour city information hot line, reintroduction of cable broadcasts of council meetings and quarterly or biannual communitywide meetings.

On the budget crisis, which he sees as worsening, Chin opposes new tax increases. “We have to set a cap in spending,” he said.

Chin said the city can build its revenue base by easing regulations on small business owners. He opposes a requirement that small businesses replace signs mounted on metal boxes with less obtrusive ones.

Condie, 53, said he still favors the sign law, even after a protest by small-business owners resulted in the council delaying its implementation this summer. The sign ban came about because people wanted it, he said.

“We’re just trying to make a nice looking community, not junky looking,” he said. “We don’t have bad businesses in our community because we have good regulations.”

The 28-year Alhambra resident said his experience as a CPA qualifies him to handle budget problems, which he anticipates will intensify in the coming years.

The council’s job will be to look for ways to continue providing services at less cost, he said, pointing to the library as an example. During the last budget crunch, the council reduced the library’s operating expenses by restructuring staff hours without reducing its public hours, he said.

In the school board race, incumbents Stephen R. Perry, Phyllis J. Rutherford and J. Parker Williams are seeking reelection to the five-member board.

Chow, manager of the Edwards Atlantic Palace theaters in Alhambra and a member of the city Planning Commission, is emphasizing his familiarity with youth.

“I have 50 or 60 teen-agers working for me, so I know the needs and issues of students,” he said.

Chow, the father of two elementary school students, has been active with the Alhambra schools since he moved to the city seven years ago, working on an attendance reward program, the Alhambra Science Fair and the Industry Education Council. An adopted child who was brought from China at age 12 by a San Francisco couple, Chow endorses ethnic awareness programs for students to overcome tension developing between Latino and Asian children.

Perry, 29, is seeking a second term on the school board. He stands on his record. “It’s been a good year: no layoffs, no reductions in programs, and we’ve maintained fiscal integrity because we anticipated budget cuts a year ago,” Perry said.

A police officer and owner of a flower shop, Perry graduated from Alhambra district schools and visits district schools weekly.

He plans to create a facilities task force to determine district needs by the year 2000. He also plans to maintain close contact with district employee groups to avoid disputes.

Rutherford, an Alhambra resident of 40 years and single mother whose two children graduated from Alhambra schools, is seeking her third term on the board.

“I’m the only one running who works in education,” said Rutherford, a behavior management educator for Los Angeles County. “I live with the problems every day.”

Rutherford sees the district’s main problem as lack of funds.

“We must be innovative to keep teacher morale up; they haven’t had a raise in three years,” she said. Williams, 55, served the maximum three terms on the City Council from 1976 to 1988 before his election to the school board. He is seeking his second term. The lifelong Alhambra resident is also past chairman of the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission. “Being on City Council is a picnic compared to school business,” he said.

A business development specialist, Williams helped create the School Budget Advisory Committee to receive suggestions from parents, teachers and administrators and to advise the board. He proposes district bond issues as a way to tackle future budget problems.