SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : 2 Women Chosen for Historic City Roles

Collene Campbell and Carolyn Nash, this historic city’s first-ever female council members, this week were chosen to become, respectively, the first female mayor and mayor pro tem.

Campbell, who fulfilled a 14-year ambition to be San Juan Capistrano’s mayor, was elected to a one-year term Tuesday night on a 4-1 vote of the City Council.

She will be sworn in to replace Mayor Gil Jones on Dec. 7.

“I am very anxious to try and fill the big shoes of Gil’s,” Campbell said. “I take this very, very seriously. . . . I am extremely proud and will do my level best.”

Councilman Jeff Vasquez cast the dissenting vote.

“My opposition is not a personal one,” said Vasquez, who, although he was the leading vote-getter in the 1990 city election, has not served as mayor. “I have differed with Collene on some important decisions.”

Nash, who won the most votes in the 1992 election, won a unanimous council vote to become mayor pro tem.

She was also elected chairman of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.

City Councilman Gary L. Hausdorfer expressed kind words for Jones, who will be ending a two-year stint as mayor Dec. 7.

“For the past two years, Gil Jones has done an exemplary job as mayor of this city,” Hausdorfer said.

“It’s not an easy task. We have a great city that gets kind of complicated at times. (Gil) exemplifies the integrity and the friendliness that the city of San Juan Capistrano is all about.”