HIDDEN HILLS : Council Challengers Want More Patrols

Two challengers for seats on the Hidden Hills City Council said they would try to increase sheriff’s patrols and emergency preparations if elected next Tuesday in the upscale, bucolic town of about 500 homes.

Near the end of a sleepy political race for three council seats, businessmen Stuart Siegel and Monty Fisher said they would change little about the tiny city’s policies except to expand, where possible, security and preparations for any disaster.

“I would ask the county and the state for emergency materials, such as radios, generators and cots and things,” said Siegel, whose business operates indoor swap meets. “We would like to get more sheriff’s patrols too.”

Siegel said he was unsure how to fit more security into the city’s $1.2-million budget, but suggested asking the state for more money.

Siegel, 49, is serving his second term as a board member of the Hidden Hills Community Assn., which maintains the streets and most of the sparse city facilities. He moved to Hidden Hills in 1989, and lives with his wife, Peggi, and three children.

Fisher, 55, owns a heating, air conditioning and refrigeration company, and has lived in Hidden Hills with his wife, Teri, since 1979. He served as a board member of the Community Assn. until last October.

Although he said he would “concentrate more” on emergency services and security, Fisher had no complaints about the current council.

“All the guys running are friends and neighbors,” Fisher said. “Stuart and I thought we have good experience, and we could be of good use on the council.”

Politics in the enclave of ranch-style homes have been relatively quiet since the overwhelming defeat in 1990 of three council members who favored a lower-cost housing project on the city’s borders.

Two of their replacements--Mayor David Stanley and Councilman Howard Klein--are running for reelection Tuesday. The other seat up for grabs was held by Susan Norris Porcaro who moved out of town last year. James Cohen, her appointed replacement, is running for his council seat.

Stanley, 42, said in his campaign statement that he is proud to be part of a “respectful, responsive and supportive new government” that emerged after the defeat of the “patronizing, non-representative, threatening government” that preceded him.

Klein also touted his role in stopping development, as well as getting a $7-million flood drain paid for by Los Angeles County.

“We now have an open City Council working with the homeowners together for the first time, trying to make Hidden Hills a place we all can be proud and safe living in,” he said in his campaign statement.

Cohen, an attorney specializing in real estate and business, said his professional expertise is important to running a city, even one as small as Hidden Hills.

“I believe that it is vital that this city, with a budget in excess of $1.25 million and confronted with complex issues, be guided by a professional manager.”