FULLERTON : Council Sets Recall Election for June 7

A recall election of three City Council members and the city clerk will be held June 7, in conjunction with the state primary elections, the City Council decided Tuesday in a unanimous vote.

Voters will be asked whether they want to recall City Clerk Anne M. York, Mayor A. B. (Buck) Catlin and council members Molly McClanahan and Don Bankhead. They will also be asked to decide if they prefer another special election or an appointment process to fill any vacancy created by the recall.

All four officials have said they will fight the recall and are in the process of setting up a campaign fund, Bankhead said. So far, the four have raised $375, McClanahan said.

Thomas Babcock, chairman of the Fullerton Recalls Committee, said his group has raised $400 for the recall campaign and will hold its first public fund-raiser March 20 at the Ice House in Fullerton.

“We feel the recall will be successful and we want to put our efforts into identifying candidates” to fill the posts, Babcock said.

Babcock said his group is looking for potential City Council candidates who will work to repeal the utility tax. The group wants candidates who have never worked in the public sector, are strong supporters of a free market system and have not opposed the recall.

The recall election will cost the city $118,500, and a special election to fill any vacancy that occurs will cost an additional $118,000, Deputy City Clerk Audrey Culver said.

The recall effort began in July, when the City Council voted 3-2 in favor of an unpopular 2% tax on water, telephone, electricity, natural gas and cable television bills, despite objections from hundreds of residents.

Council members Bankhead, McClanahan and Catlin voted in favor of the tax; council members Julie Sa and Chris Norby opposed it.

After the vote, a group of residents formed the Fullerton Recalls Committee to punish what they call unacceptable behavior by the council members.

Babcock said York is a target because she delayed the recall process when she rejected recall petitions against the council members, saying they exceeded the legal word limit. But York says she was simply doing her job and consistently responded within a day to paperwork regarding the recall.