AGOURA HILLS : Lawsuit Threatened Over Recall Petitions

A group trying to oust the entire Agoura Hills City Council is threatening to sue the city unless it reverses its decision to invalidate dozens of signatures supporting the recall effort.

The signatures that were invalidated, if counted, would force a recall election for at least one of the city’s five council members, said the recall group’s leader, Barbara Murphy.

“We believe this is a broad violation of the civil rights of the people who signed these petitions,” she said.

According to Murphy, during a preliminary count at City Hall, the city invalidated an average of 100 signatures on each of the five petitions turned in by the recall group. For Councilwoman Fran Pavley, the recall group fell 53 signatures short of forcing a recall election.

The group needed 2,405 signatures--or 20% of the city’s registered voters--for each of the five council members, city officials said. According to the county clerk/registrar recorder’s office, which validated the remaining signatures, the group fell short in all five cases.

The group has set Monday as the deadline for the city to reverse itself, Murphy said. If not, the recall group will sue the city of Agoura Hills and City Clerk Pat Manning, as well as Los Angeles County.

City officials insist the petitions were processed according to law.

“Just like in a regular election, once it’s over and done with, no matter what the outcome is, people have to let the past be the past and go forward for the betterment of the community,” Pavley said.

“I felt the county did a good job, and I’m not sure what (the recall group is) looking for,” Manning said.

Pavley said it is ironic that the recall group, which criticizes the city for becoming involved in several costly lawsuits, would force the city into another lawsuit.

Murphy’s group launched the recall effort last summer, after the council levied a 4% utility tax on residents. Council members said the city’s budget woes left them no choice, but the recall group says the tax was unnecessary and that the city should have made cuts to balance the deficit.