IRVINE : Decision Time Near on Council Vacancy

With less than two weeks to go before the city decides how to fill a vacant council seat, Irvine seems locked in “campaign mode.”

Stationing themselves outside supermarkets and around shopping centers, more than a dozen people are hoping to collect the 5,000 or so signatures required to force a special election. And in the corridors of City Hall, insiders are wondering whom the council might appoint to fill the seat if too few signatures are gathered.

Among the early front-runners is Planning Commissioner Kenneth Bruner, who was the first runner-up in last year’s council election. Other possible contenders include Greg Smith, an Irvine Unified School District board member, and Marc Goldstone, another planning commissioner.

Organizers of the petition drive have until Monday to submit the signatures, which will then need to be verified. People interested in being appointed to the council have the same deadline to submit candidate applications.

Six applications have been taken out so far but none have been returned, City Clerk Judy Vonada said. The council is set to take up the issue at its July 27 meeting.

Filling the vacant seat has been the topic of much discussion since mid-June, when William A. (Art) Bloomer announced that he was resigning from the council to accept a job in Virginia.

Mayor Michael Ward has already expressed an interest in appointing Bruner to the post, while Councilwoman Paula Werner said the council should call for an election, even if the petitioners fall short.

Bruner is an executive assistant to Supervisor Thomas F. Riley and served as a lieutenant colonel at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. Bruner and his supporters have said his background in government would allow him to quickly assume the duties of a council member.

His connection to El Toro is another plus, supporters argue, because the city is fighting to prevent the base’s closure. Until his resignation, Bloomer, a former El Toro commanding officer, was Irvine’s point man on the base closure issue.

Goldstone is a well-known civic activist who ran for mayor last year. He is also one of the leaders of the petition drive. Though he declined to state how many signatures have been collected so far, Goldstone said he is confident that a November election will be held.

Goldstone said he would bring an independent voice to the council and “can walk in and do the job.”

Smith has also expressed interest in the open seat. The school board member headed the Safe Community Task Force, an ad hoc committee of school district and city officials, as well as residents and business people, that looked into ways of reducing youth violence in Irvine.

The task force’s report was released in June and was well received by the City Council, which recently allocated funds to begin implementing some of the task force’s recommendations.

Werner and others who support a special election argue that it is the fairest and most democratic way to fill the seat.

“I believe this is a decision the whole public should make,” Werner said. An election “makes the person responsible to voters and not to the fellow” council members who made the appointment.

Others, however, said that an appointment is the quickest way to bring a new member onto the council and would save the expense of an election.