The candidacy filing period opens Dec. 22 for two seats on the Arcadia City Council and for a newly configured city clerk's position. The terms for Sheng Chang and Mickey Segal will expire.
City Clerk June Alford will retire in April, 2004 with her elected successor being paid a $500 monthly stipend and only handling mostly ceremonial duties.
The seven candidates who vie for two open City Council seats represent two rival political factions which stem from one political event four years ago; the firing of City Manager George Watts in May 1992.
City clerks often earn six figure salaries. Pasadena has the highest paid clerk in the San Gabriel Valley with an annual salary of $143,006, and 10 cities have clerks that make more than $100,000. The City Clerk is responsible for all city records and for orchestrating city elections. Arcadia's city manager Don Penman said the role of city clerk as chief record keeper is essential and the pay is justified because of the level of responsibility the position demands. Arcadia's city clerk is paid $90,870 per year.
Arcadia residents may vote again on street lighting fees. Under the new proposal, single family homes on arterial streets would pay about $17 a year, while those not on arterial streets would pay about $27 a year, making the assessments more fair. Voters in 2008 rejected a proposal to fund the lighting and now the city is considering another mail-in vote.
Arcadia certifies city council election victories for John Wuo and Gary A. Kovacic. The results were certified this week after election officials were able to verify and count 661 of the remaining 681 ballots of the April 10 election. There were 105 ballots that had to be disqualified because voters selected more than 2 candidates in the all-mail election. At least some of those were caused by an error in the ballots' Chinese-language instructions that directed voters to select no more than 3 instead of 2 candidates, prompting the city to send out correction notices. Gene Glasco was elected City Clerk. Measure D, the hotel room tax, passed.
The City of Arcadia is asked by election consultant Martin and Chapman Co. to split the cost of the $10,000 ballot error that was sent to the city's nearly 29,000 voters. The error was in the Chinese language instructions, directing voters to choose up to 3 City Council candidates, in the race for only 2 open seats.
The City Council decided to ask voters to approve $8 million in bond funding for a bridge at Santa Anita Avenue. If 2/3 of voters support this bond, Arcadia would be the only city on the Gold Line extension route to finance its own grade separation.
The city council has decided to appropriate $35,000 toward the design of a light rail bridge over Santa Anita Avenue. This is to pay for early design work needed for an environmental impact report. The bridge project is expected to cost the city $10.7 million which may come from a bond. The Construction Authority would pay $18.4 million bringing total bridge cost to $29.1 million.
Arcadia City Council voted 4-0 to approve a voluntary spending limit of 50 cents per resident for campaign spending. The law comes up for a second vote at the next council meeting.
After a five-year hiatus, Arcadia City Council is considering reinstating a policy that would let property owners pay to be assigned a more auspicious house number, which some believe would improve the value of their home. The number 4 in a street address is considered a bad omen in many Asian cultures. In Mandarin language, the word "four" sounds like the word for death, while the number eight is considered lucky, because it sounds like the word for prosper. Arcadia's Asian population is approaching 60% and most potential buyers will be Asian. In a 3-2 vote, Arcadia City Council endorsed the move in principle and directed staff to report back on the costs involved.
Arcadia City Council has decided to leave in place a city policy that imposes term limits for serving on City Council, restricting residents from running for more than two consecutive council terms. Had council voted to remove the restrictions, local voters would have had a chance to vote on term limits as a local ballot measure. Arcadia's city charter requires council members who have served two consecutive 4-year terms to take a 2-year break before they can run again for another term.