ANAHEIM : Council to Consider Special Election

The City Council will decide tonight whether to call a special election on a proposed mobile home rent-control ordinance and other issues.

If council members approve a special election, they may also decide to include another 13 ballot measures that either failed on Nov. 6 or were left off the crowded ballot.

Among those is a controversial measure to triple the salaries of City Council members and give the mayor a 50% pay raise. That proposal was shelved when it became a heated campaign issue among council candidates.

If the council opts for a special election, it will have until Dec. 7 to decide which measures to place on the March 5 ballot.

Four of the measures are those rejected by Anaheim voters last month. The remaining nine had been recommended for the November ballot but were kept off because the council concluded that the ballot was too long.

Aside from the pay increase, most of the measures, including some that voters rejected this past election, are considered housekeeping measures or those necessary to bring the city’s charter into accordance with state law.

Those rejected by voters in November were measures that would:

* Increase the maximum fine for charter or ordinance violations from $500 to $1,000, to conform with state law.

* Allow a single motion at City Council meetings that would enable the council to avoid reading the full text of proposed ordinances and resolutions.

* Allow the City Council to grant franchises, according to the city’s ordinance.

* Allow the city to take out bonds with City Council approval, rather than with voter approval.