FULLERTON : Deputy City Clerk Named to Top Post

City Council members Tuesday appointed Deputy City Clerk Audrey Culver to replace retired City Clerk Anne M. York.

Mayor A.B. (Buck) Catlin said the council decided to appoint Culver because she is qualified for the job and the move saved the city the expense of a special election.

Residents had asked the council to hold a special election to replace York or to advertise the job so others could apply. City officials, however, said a special election could cost the city about $117,000.

Culver, 55, has worked in the city clerk’s office since 1968. She began as a part-time typist clerk. In 1972, she became a full-time typist clerk and was promoted to deputy city clerk in 1976.

Along with her new title, Culver now will make $53,000 a year, $15,000 less than York made. Catlin said the city probably will not fill the now-vacant deputy city clerk’s job, and that the city clerk’s department is expected to be reorganized after the November general election.

York, who retired last week, found herself in the middle of a recall storm this spring that succeeded in ousting Catlin and council members Molly McClanahan and Don Bankhead from office in the June election. A special election will be held this month to replace those officials.

York retired Sept. 30, saying she had planned to retire earlier but the recall controversy kept her in office longer than she expected.

York was the only city official to defeat the recall drive.

The Fullerton Recalls Committee had tried to oust York from office because she allegedly delayed the recall process by rejecting recall petitions against Bankhead, Catlin and McClanahan. She acknowledged rejecting several petitions because language on the documents exceeded the 200-word limit set by state law.