FULLERTON : Recall Election to Be Held; City’s First Ever

The city will hold its first-ever recall election now that detractors of the City Council have succeeded in collecting enough signatures to demand a vote, City Clerk Anne M. York said Monday.

The Orange County registrar of voters finished verifying thousands of signatures late Friday for the recall of council members Don Bankhead and Molly McClanahan, York said.

Mayor A.B. (Buck) Catlin and York also are recall targets. The registrar’s office estimates that it will finish verifying the signatures on those petitions within a week.

The recall effort has been going on since July, when the City Council voted 3 to 2 in favor of an unpopular 2% tax on water, telephone, electricity, natural gas and cable television bills, despite objections from hundreds of residents.

Council members Bankhead, McClanahan and Catlin voted in favor of the tax, while council members Julie Sa and Chris Norby voted against it.

A group of opponents had urged the council to trim the city’s budget instead of increasing taxes and asked that the issue be put before voters in a special referendum.

But the suggestions “fell on deaf ears,” said Thomas Babcock, chairman of the Fullerton Recalls Committee. His group decided to recall the council members to “send a message that their actions should have consequences,” he said.

“I’m pleased that my efforts proved to be fruitful, but I wish like hell that we didn’t have to do it,” Babcock said Monday.

The recall will probably be placed on the June 7 primary ballot, and is estimated to cost $90,000, York said.

If the council members are recalled, another election will be held to replace them.

Neither McClanahan nor Bankhead could be reached for comment Monday, but city spokeswoman Sylvia Palmer Mudrick said McClanahan has indicated she intends to fight the recall.

Babcock said York is a target for recall because she rejected recall petitions against the council members, saying they exceeded the legal word limit, and because she mixed up some of the documents, a mistake that could have potentially invalidated the recall process.

York, who has been city clerk since 1976, says there is no reason for the recall effort against her.