Santa Barbara Mayor Quits After Losing Term Limits Case
Mayor Hal Conklin says he plans to resign Jan. 3 after losing a court battle to keep his office.
The mayor announced his plans Thursday after the state Supreme Court refused to review a lower court’s ruling that Conklin’s election last year violated the city’s term limits law.
“Although I’ve gotten tremendous support in the past, this kind of waiting around week in and week out for what the court is going to do is sort of debilitating because you really can’t get anything done,” he said.
Mayor Pro Tem Harriet Miller is expected to take over for the remaining three years of Conklin’s term.
Conklin, who was first elected to the City Council in 1977, was sworn in as mayor last year under the threat of a lawsuit from election reform leaders.
In its legal challenge, the city’s Electoral Reform Coalition cited a 1990 voter-approved law that prohibits a four-term City Council member from serving a fifth consecutive term. Coalition members said Conklin’s first term as mayor counted as a fifth term under the law.
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