Cheverton Gets Back the Gavel

Just two years after giving up the mayor’s gavel, David M. Cheverton is getting it back and will serve in the top post for the coming year.

Cheverton, mayor in 1994, was chosen by his City Council colleagues this week to do the job again.

The 37-year-old director of communications at United Ostomy Assn. in Irvine said his goals as mayor are the same as those of the rest of the council: “Promoting economic viability via redevelopment, bringing more business to La Habra and keeping La Habra safe.”

Elected to the council in 1990 and reelected in 1994, Cheverton takes over the mostly ceremonial post from Councilman Steven C. Anderson, who held the title this year. Dorothy Rush will be mayor pro tem.

At Thursday’s council session, three other former mayors--Juan M. Garcia, 46, Anderson, 46, and John C. Holmberg, 39--were also sworn in as council members.

Holmberg, a council member from 1980 to 1992, succeeds veteran Councilman James Flora. Flora, 70, served as a city planning commissioner for 12 years before he was elected to the council in 1984 and reelected in 1988 and 1992.

“I’ve had a real ball,” Flora told council members, police officers and firefighters who gathered to bid him farewell with accolades, plaques, a jacket, cake and a standing ovation.