AGOURA HILLS : Required Signatures for Recall Submitted

A group trying to recall the entire Agoura Hills City Council has turned in the required number of signatures to set the recall process in motion, City Clerk Pat Manning said Thursday.

The city, which received the group’s signed petitions at about noon Wednesday, immediately began counting the signatures to make sure there were at least 2,045, the minimum number needed. Thursday afternoon, after the counting was done, Manning announced that the recall group had reached the mark.

The petitions contain about 3,400 signatures, according to the recall group’s leader, Barbara Murphy. She said she believes that as many as 90% will be shown to be valid.

After the count at City Hall, the signatures were taken to the County Clerk/Registrar Recorder’s office to be checked for validity, Murphy said.

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy carried the petitions to the county office, Murphy said. The count is expected to be finished in about five days.

Recall leaders, who say they fear that city officials will tamper with the petitions, kept a vigil at City Hall after they turned in the petitions.

Hours after the counting began, Murphy began complaining that city officials were discounting some names. Manning, who has never handled a recall, said Thursday she authorized the removal of names that were not printed as well as signed, believing that was how the county wanted it done. County officials have since informed her, Manning said, that no signatures are to be discounted. The discounted signatures will be included in the final count, she said.

Murphy’s group, which calls itself Citizens Against New Local Taxes, launched the recall drive last summer after the council unanimously 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.

Council members say they had no choice and insist they have been frugal in spending taxpayers’ money. They charge that the recall effort is funded by outside interests and managed by a paid professional consultant.