ANAHEIM : City to Keep Charter Proposal Off Ballot

The City Council has rejected putting on the November ballot a proposal regarding how vacancies on the council should be filled.

The split decision prompted one councilman to charge his colleagues with playing political games.

The council voted 3 to 2 last week to keep the proposed city charter amendment off the ballot. Councilmen Bob D. Simpson and Fred Hunter voted against the motion, which also called for the formation of a citizen committee to review the city charter after the November election.

The complex proposal would have automatically given a losing council candidate with the next-highest vote in a general election the right to a council seat in the event an incumbent council member is elected mayor.

City law now calls for an appointment by the council or a special election to select a new council member in the event of such a vacancy.

“Rather than save the taxpayers $100,000, they are playing politics,” Hunter said. “This is just stupid. The (proposed amendments) would pass overwhelmingly.”

Mayor Tom Daly, who voted down the proposed changes, said the current city charter has served the city “pretty well” since its last major overhaul in the early 1960s.

“Elections and appointments are by their very nature political,” Daly said.