Record 17 File for Santa Clarita Race

Seventeen residents have declared they are candidates for three City Council seats up for election in April, eclipsing the record field of 13 candidates in the 1996 race.

Incumbent Jo Anne Darcy, a council member since the city incorporated in 1987, is running for reelection. Fellow council members Clyde Smyth and Carl Boyer III will surrender their spots.

The candidates in the April 14 election range from teenagers to retirees, business executives to teachers. In alphabetical order, they are:

Kent Carlson, Dennis Conn, Darcy, Mike Egan, David Ends, Frank Ferry, Ryan Krell, Mario Matute, Marsha McLean, Bob Nolan, Jeffery O’Keefe, Greg Powell, Wendell Simms, Charles Simons, Cameron Smyth, Ed Stevens and Laurene Weste.

In all, 26 people picked up candidacy papers from City Hall, but nine failed to file them by the deadline late Wednesday.

“We thought 13 was a lot, but this is the most I’ve seen,” City Clerk Sharon Dawson said. When the city held its first race for all five council seats in 1987, 25 residents entered the race, she said.

One name notably absent from the list is Mark Clark, an electronics warehouse worker who announced last fall he planned to run as a springboard to statewide or federal office.

Clark, 23, was among a quartet of unusually young prospective candidates joining the 18-year-old Egan, 19-year-old Krell and 26-year-old Cameron Smyth, son of Councilman Clyde Smyth.

In forms disclosing financial support, Egan listed his parents and Krell listed the Newhall Baskin-Robbins ice cream store where he works. He also attends classes at College of the Canyons.

Only seven candidates appear to be conducting serious, organized fund-raising--Carlson, Darcy, Ends, Ferry, McLean, Smyth and Weste.

McLean, owner of a small business and a key leader of the successful effort to keep Elsmere Canyon from becoming the nation’s largest dump site, is among the early favorites. Smyth, an aide to state Sen. William J. “Pete” Knight (R-Palmdale), and Valencia High School teacher Frank Ferry also appear to have significant community support.

The top three vote-getters will take their seats on the council April 21. Like many comparably sized California cities, Santa Clarita holds council elections every two years. The mayor’s title rotates to a different council member each year by council vote.