SAN CLEMENTE : Effort to Overturn Police Merger Fails

An effort to prevent the merger of the San Clemente Police Department with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department through a ballot measure has failed, officials said Monday.

Citizens for a Better San Clemente for several months had been collecting signatures for an initiative that would overturn the council’s decision last winter to merge the two departments.

But a Monday deadline came and went without any word from Citizens for a Better San Clemente, according to City Hall officials.

In August, the group had been unable to collect enough signatures to trigger a recall election against the four council members who had voted for the merger.

Group member Barry Vick said Monday that the initiative drive basically ended when the recall effort failed. Members were discouraged by reports that the city might challenge the initiative measure in court should it pass, he said.

The group needed to gather signatures from 10% of the estimated 24,000 voters in San Clemente within six months to trigger a special election on the initiative measure.

City Council members who had been targeted for recall by the group said Monday that they look forward to moving beyond the controversial merger, which is expected to save the city about $2 million this fiscal year.

“I’m just glad it became a dead issue,” Mayor Truman Benedict said. “I think the people in the community are generally pleased with the sheriff’s performance in the city. All I hear are good things.”