AGOURA HILLS : City Counts Signatures on Recall Petitions

Members of a movement to oust the entire five-member Agoura Hills City Council marched triumphantly into City Hall on Wednesday bearing petitions they said contained about 3,400 signatures, more than enough to set in motion the first phase of the recall process.

The action forced the city to count the signatures to determine whether the recall group is correct. City officials, who began counting about noon, said Wednesday night they won’t be finished until today.

The petitions were to be stored in a vault in City Hall overnight, and the count was to resume this morning, city officials said.

The recall group needs to turn in at least 2,405 signatures--or 20% of the city’s registered voters--to force a recall election, according to the city clerk’s office.

After the signatures are counted, they will be sent to the Los Angeles County clerk/registrar-recorder’s office to be checked for validity, officials said.

The atmosphere was tense but cordial as the recall group--accompanied by news photographers and reporters--entered the lobby of City Hall, where they were met by City Clerk Pat Manning.

“I don’t know exactly how we proceed from here,” said an apparently nervous Barbara Murphy, the recall group’s leader, clutching a box of petitions.

“I have five staff members standing by waiting to count the signatures,” said Manning, as she led the group into another room where the counting was to take place.

Manning then asked recall group members to leave the room so that the counting could get under way. She invited them to watch from a window.

Recall leaders, who have said they fear city officials will tamper with the petitions, took her up on her offer. Murphy’s husband, Joseph Henry Murphy, peered through the window, refusing to take his eyes off the scene inside.

None of the council members were present as the group turned in the signatures.

Hours after the counting began, Barbara Murphy said she heard a report that city officials had refused to include in the count some of the names on the petitions.

“I’m real concerned, because we were told they were not allowed to mark the petitions, or to scratch out any names,” Murphy said.

“It’s a tedious process,” Manning said. “We’re doing what I was told to do” by county officials.

Murphy’s group, Citizens Against New Local Taxes, launched the recall drive last summer, after the council to a person approved a 4% tax on electricity, gas and telephone service to help close what the city says is a $1-million deficit. The recall group says the actual deficit is far less and that the city could have balanced the budget without the tax.

One City Council member, Fran Pavley, reiterated on Wednesday her claim that the recall effort is being funded by outside interests and managed by a paid professional consultant.

“It’s very difficult for a homeowner who seeks public office to compete with paid outside consultants who do nothing but gather signatures,” she said. “Literally, thousands and thousands of dollars have been spent on getting paid signatures.”