PLACENTIA : Moreno Says Voters Want Her as Mayor

Newly reelected Councilwoman Maria Moreno said she is reserving judgment on the make-up of the new City Council until after it chooses a mayor. Moreno, top finisher with 6,448 votes in last week’s race for three council seats, has never been picked for mayor during her four years on the council.

“One of the tests (of whether this council is any different) is going to be the vote for mayor,” Moreno said. “The voters have said they want to see me as mayor. The question is will I make it?”

Councilman John O. Tynes, the present mayor, came in second in the field of nine candidates.

Anti-incumbent and term-limits sentiments didn’t seem to have much impact here, with the top two vote-getters incumbents. And Mike Maertzweiler, winner of the other open spot on the council, although not an incumbent, had eight years on the Planning Commission. He replaces one-term Councilman Arthur Newton, who finished out of the running in fifth place. Maertzweiler had campaigned as “kind of conservative, not an incumbent.”

Both Moreno and Tynes said they weren’t too concerned during the campaign that they would be swept out of office on the term-limits issue. “City council races are real close to home,” Tynes said. “People take care of (ineffective incumbents) with their votes.”

Moreno, who was first elected to the council in 1988, said she grew confident about maintaining her seat after talking to voters. “I think people were holding their elected officials accountable” this election, Moreno said. “I have gotten a lot of positive feedback. People have been pleased with my work.”

The 70-year-old Tynes, in his third year as mayor, said his new council term will be a fight to maintain city services in the face of budget cuts.

“My strong suit has always been sound finances,” Tynes said. “I know it’s going to be a scrap, but that doesn’t bother me.”

There is little evidence to suggest that the addition of Maertzweiler will do much to alter the philosophical make-up of the council. Throughout one candidates’ forum, both Newton and Maertzweiler made a point of complimenting and agreeing with the other’s viewpoint.

In an interview before the election, Maertzweiler said that he was not dissatisfied with the current council but that if the voters wanted “new blood,” he wanted it to be his.