TUSTIN : Mayor to Push More Sports, Recreation

By BERT ELJERA

April 21, 1993 12 AM PT

Mayor Jim Potts is vowing to push for more sports and recreational programs that will benefit the city’s youth as he begins his one-year term as mayor.

Potts was elected by his council colleagues to the largely ceremonial post Monday. He succeeds Leslie Anne Pontious.

Councilman Thomas R. Saltarelli was named mayor pro tem.

“It is more cost-effective to help the youth now than hire more police officers later to control them,” said Potts, 40, a public safety supervisor with the Irvine Police Department.

Potts, a father of three teen-age boys, said he will work for an early completion of the proposed city sports complex and extension of a county hiking and biking trail system from the Tustin hills to Newport Beach.

In addition, he said he will work closely with the school district through the Joint Youth Issues Committee, a panel of council members, school board members and community leaders, which was formed last month to look into youth concerns.

“By forming a partnership with the school district, they can allow us to use school properties and we can help run the (sports and recreational) programs,” he said.

But the biggest challenge, Potts said, is in maintaining city services in the face of shrinking revenues and state budget cuts.

“We have to work smarter, do more with less revenues,” he said.

Potts said he does not anticipate any layoffs. But because of the continuing economic slump, the city may lose as much as $1 million in sales tax revenues next fiscal year and services may be affected.

“We are in good shape compared to many cities because we have developed a good retail base,” he said.

However, Potts added that Tustin Ranch Market and the Tustin Auto Mall, which provided a large percentage of the city’s sales tax income in the past, have been hurt by the sluggish economy.

With cuts in state funding, the 1993-94 fiscal year will be “challenging,” Potts said.

Potts was first elected to the council in 1990 for a two-year term. He was reelected in 1992.