TUSTIN : New Mayor Calls for Council Teamwork

Mayor Thomas R. Saltarelli has urged his colleagues on the City Council to work together as a team to ensure the city’s continued progress.

Following his election Tuesday to the one-year term as mayor, Saltarelli said the city faces a serious challenge because the state is again poised to take away property taxes from cities and special districts to balance its budget.

“Cities and special district could pay a horrible price,” Saltarelli said, adding that preliminary estimates indicate that the state could have a $6-billion shortfall for the next fiscal year.

He said city officials should adopt a conservative 1994-95 city budget and “aggressively move forward with redevelopment in the next two years.”

“We must do it together,” Saltarelli said.

In the council’s first session since the April 12 municipal election, Jim Potts was chosen mayor pro tempore.

The vote was 4 to 1. Councilman Jeffery Thomas voted against Potts.

Thomas was in line for the mayor pro tempore job under the traditional rotation of the mayor and mayor pro tempore positions, which are largely ceremonial. Potts was the out-going mayor.

But Thomas said that he will be a team player on the council.

City Clerk Mary E. Wynn swore in Tracy Worley and Michael J. Doyle, who beat incumbents Charles E. Puckett and Leslie Anne Pontious in the April 12 election, as the newest council members.

Worley and Doyle will serve for four years.