Ignored Rule Invoked; Krause to Be Mayor

A 12-year veteran of the La Canada Flintridge City Council, who has served as mayor only once and declined nomination to the position last month, this week accepted the post.

Edmund J. Krause, 87, agreed to serve as mayor after O. Warren Hillgren resigned just two weeks after he was selected.

A city policy adopted in 1982 forbids any council member from serving as mayor more than once during a four-year term. Hillgren, also a 12-year council member, last served as mayor in 1986. He said he had forgotten about the policy when he was elected last month to a fourth turn as mayor.

Krause, who was mayor pro tem last year, was in line to become mayor but declined the nomination. The policy also provides for the automatic succession of mayor pro tem to the position of mayor.

Krause did not elaborate on his reasons for initially declining the position, which is largely ceremonial but requires a great deal of work and frequent attendance at public and social functions.

He said he decided to accept the position a week after learning about the forgotten policy. “I have ample time,” said Krause, a widower who was mayor in 1981-82. “My spouse is the city. I am available 24 hours a day.”