ORANGE : Candidates Line Up to Replace Steiner

City Hall insiders talked quietly for months about the open City Council seat that would arise if embattled County Supervisor Don R. Roth resigned and Councilman William G. Steiner was tapped to replace him.

Now that Steiner’s move to the Board of Supervisors is official, discussions centering on who will succeed him on the council have intensified.

The three most-talked-about candidates are all planning commissioners: Randy Bosch, William Cathcart and Mark Murphy.

Though more candidates are sure to surface before the selection is made, a variety of factors ranging from age to experience in government give the commissioners an early edge, observers said.

“A planning commissioner comes to the council running. . . . (He) has the background,” said longtime council watcher and publisher Bob Bennyhoff, explaining why Bosch, Murphy and Cathcart might hold an advantage. “An outsider might come to the council and need some time to get up to speed.”

Most everyone agrees that Steiner’s successor will need a firm grasp of planning and fiscal matters in order to deal effectively with the myriad issues facing the council, paramount of which is the city’s budget woes.

Hoping to tackle the budget with a full five-member council, several council members have already expressed their desire to forgo a special election and appoint someone to fill out the two years left in Steiner’s term.

All three planning commissioners said they are interested in the appointment, though each insisted that it is too early to pick front-runners or predict what course of action the council will take.

“I wouldn’t even try to handicap the race as to who the leading candidate is,” Murphy said.

Like Cathcart and Bosch, Murphy has worked on a variety of city commissions and community projects.

He has served on the Planning Commission since 1990 and before that spent six years on the Video Advisory Board, which deals with cable television issues. Murphy, 35, works in sales at Hewlett-Packard Co.

Bosch, 46, was appointed to the Planning Commission six years ago. An architect, he has also worked on the Old Town Steering Committee and the Orange 2000 economic development committee.

In 1990, he was one of the people considered to fill a vacant seat on the City Council. Mike Spurgeon was ultimately appointed to the post.

Cathcart, 48, was also considered for the 1990 appointment. A landscape architect, he has served on the Planning Commission since 1990 and worked on Orange 2000 and with Orange Elderly Services.

All three have been praised by several council members for their service to the community and their knowledge of issues facing the city--something sure to be a benefit when the time comes for the council to fill the seat.

Another advantage might be their relative youth.

If any one of the three is appointed, he would become the youngest member of the City Council.

Councilman Spurgeon expressed the hope last week that candidates representing “a new generation of leadership” would apply for the open seat. He said the city could benefit if younger community leaders became more involved in local government.