SAN CLEMENTE : Council Recall Group Still Needs Signatures

With a final deadline only days away, a group seeking the recall of four council members is making a final push to force the issue to a special election.

The group calling itself Citizens for a Better San Clemente must collect signatures from 20% of the city’s 24,000 registered voters by 5 p.m. Friday to qualify for a special recall election, City Clerk Myrna Erway said.

Recall leader Darlene Novak said the group is short by about 2,000 of the approximately 4,800 signatures required per council member, but is not yet giving up.

“We’re out there and we’re getting (signatures) daily,” she said. “It’s going to be up to (the people). If they want it, they’re going to have to fight for it.”

In March, the group targeted Mayor Truman Benedict and council members Joseph Anderson, Scott Diehl and Candace Haggard for recall, in large part because of their decision earlier this year to merge the city’s 65-year-old Police Department with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

The council members have defended their action, saying the merger, which went into effect July 1, will save the cash-strapped city about $2.1 million annually, while increasing patrols at the same time.

A group opposed to the recall, calling itself San Clemente Taxpayers for Honest, Ethical Government, has also formed to help support the targeted council members and distribute information about the benefits of the merger.

If the recall group collects enough signatures, an election--which would cost the city about $45,000 to $50,000--would be held in an additional 88 to 125 days, Erway said.

The city clerk’s office is responsible for verifying that the signatures on the recall petitions are valid.

The group started collecting signatures for the recall on April 12. At the same time, they are trying to collect enough signatures to get an initiative on the ballot that would ask voters to overturn the council’s decision to merge the police department.

The group has until early October to gather the estimated 3,700 signatures needed to put the initiative on the ballot, and will continue to collect signatures regardless of the outcome on the recall, Novak said.

In May, the group was forced to disqualify an estimated 2,000 signatures and start again after discovering an error in the margins of the recall and initiative forms being used.