17 Crowd Into Race for 2 Council Seats

Seventeen residents have taken out nomination papers to run in November’s City Council election, in which two seats will be filled.

Mayor Joanne Coontz will be challenged by Nick Lall of the Orange Taxpayers Assn. Lall, a small-business owner who became active in local issues after Orange County filed for bankruptcy in 1994, said he wants to give the incumbent some competition.

“I saw we had a lot of good candidates that were going to step forward to run for council, and I saw a lack of candidates for mayor,” Lall said.

Coontz, meanwhile, reported this week that she already has more than $23,000 in her campaign fund. And Councilman Mike Spurgeon, seeking a second term, indicated that he has about the same amount. Councilman Fred L. Barrera will not run for reelection.

Among other council contenders are Michael Alvarez and Bernie Dennis, the longtime city engineer who retired last fall. Nomination papers have also been taken out by environmentalist Juan Pablo Serrano-Nieblas, financier Adolfo Perez Jr. and community activist Barbara De Niro.

Other candidates for council are Kevin G. Rice, a civil attorney; maintenance worker and police reservist Robert L. Douglas; pharmacist Richard W. Siebert; engineer John K. Mace; maintenance workers James P. Boden and Phillip S. Martinez; attorney Barry I. Besser; clerical supervisor Betty I. Nauer; fire dispatcher Jonathan Andrew Dumitru; and residents Steven Frank Ambriz and John E. Stratman Jr.