Newcomers Sure to Fill 11 City Seats : Politics: Ten council members and a mayor are leaving office. Voters will fill 56 municipal posts on April 12.

At least one new mayor and 10 new council members will be elected across the San Gabriel Valley on April 12, as 56 municipal seats open up this year in 21 cities.

In the city elections, 11 seats will be filled by newcomers. Six incumbents have opted to retire, three are seeking higher office and two have served the maximum terms allowed for council members in their cities.

“I realized how much I needed to be involved with my family,” said South Pasadena Mayor James C. Hodge Jr., 44, who will retire after eight years on the council. “My daughters were 8 and 9 when I joined the council. . . . They grew up while I was in meetings.”

Voters will elect new council members in Arcadia, Azusa, Claremont, Glendora, San Marino, Sierra Madre, South El Monte and South Pasadena, as well as a new mayor in Azusa.

Minorities make up more than a third of the 88 new candidates and constitute 14 of the 45 incumbents.

In Arcadia, Sheng Chang, a Chinese American resident, hopes to become the first member of an ethnic minority elected to that City Council. Incumbents hold two of the seats up for election this year, but Councilman Robert Harbicht, 53, is barred from running again after serving two four-year terms.

In San Marino, Alex Tse and Allan Yung, both of Asian descent, are among four candidates for two seats, including one vacated by retiring Councilwomen Suzanne Crowell. In South El Monte, retiring Councilman Jim Kelly will be replaced by one of four Latino candidates who will also be challenging incumbent Raul Pardo.

Since nominations are closed for the city elections, eight incumbents and two newcomers in five cities who face no opposition are assured election: incumbent Councilmen John Ferrero, Manuel A. Garcia and Lawrence Mayo in Industry, and Jim Edwards, Joan C. Feehan and John W. Hastings in La Canada Flintridge. Mayor Terry Dipple of San Dimas also had no opposition.

In Bradbury, two new unopposed councilmen, Rick Barakat and Mark Flewelling, last week replaced recalled council members Audrey Hon and Tom Melbourn. Councilwoman Bea LaPisto-Kirtley faces no challengers.

A number of prominent politicians will disappear from the political landscape after deciding not to seek reelection: council members Nick Presecan of Claremont, Mollie MacLeod of Glendora, Suzanne Crowell of San Marino, Jim Kelly of South El Monte, and Hodge and James S. Woollacott of South Pasadena.

“I thought I was due some time off after eight years on the council,” said Presecan, a 54-year-old environmental engineer.

A step up the political ladder has inspired four Azusa city officials not to defend their seats. After nearly a decade in office, Mayor Eugene F. Moses is leaving to make a bid for state Senate against Assemblywomen Hilda L. Solis. Councilmen Stephen J. Alexander and John R. Dangleis are vacating their seats to compete for the mayor’s post, along with Councilman Tony Naranjo, who still has two years to serve on the council.