IRVINE : Petitioners Succeed in Bid for Election

The city clerk on Monday certified enough petition signatures to force a special election in November for the two years remaining in Mayor-elect Sally Anne Sheridan’s council term, which could leave the city with a four-member council for the next four months.

Of 4,736 signatures turned in at last week’s City Council meeting, 3,965 were valid, clerk Nancy C. Lacey said. According to city code, at least 3,862 signatures, or 7% of the city’s registered voters, were needed to call the election.

Measure D, passed by voters in June, 1988, allows petitions to be circulated to call a special election for the unexpired term of a council member who wins a directly elected mayor’s race. Traditionally, the third-highest vote-getter in the council race has taken over the rest of the term.

Mary Ann Gaido placed third behind councilmen-elect Art Bloomer and Barry J. Hammond in the June election.

The certification of signatures comes just one day before this afternoon’s special council meeting to discuss whether the signatures should be made public. The meeting was called Friday by outgoing Mayor Larry Agran, who leaves office July 20.

A recent legal report on city election laws raised questions about whether the signatures would be valid if they were certified after Gaido was seated. Because Gaido has not been sworn into office, City Atty. Roger Grable said he will recommend that the seat remain open until the November election, leaving Irvine with a four-member council.