A Special Election Preview : Coastal : Irvine Voters to Rule on Direct Election of Mayor

Irvine voters will decide Tuesday whether to directly elect their mayor, while residents in Costa Mesa choose between receiving property tax rebates that would average $66 each and letting

the city keep the money for street and road improvements.

School board races are also on the ballot in Huntington Beach and Irvine. Voters in Newport Beach will decide whether residents of the 72-home Beacon Bay colony--who live on city-owned

tidelands--can double the length of their 25-year leases, making it easier to obtain home-improvement loans.

Voters in Costa Mesa and western Newport Beach will select two new board members in the Mesa Consolidated Water District, which serves 22,000 customers.

Irvine will become the sixth city in Orange County in which voters elect the mayor directly if Measure E is approved Tuesday. Led by Mayor Larry Agran, proponents say that would make the

office of mayor one of the most visible and powerful posts in the city, directly accountable to the electorate.

“It is an American tradition to elect your own leaders,” said Agran, who believes the measure will eliminate the “back-room wheeling and dealing” that occurs now when council members pick

the mayor.

Opponents argue that separating the mayor’s office from the rest of the council on the ballot will lead to a full-time, salaried mayor. The mayor now receives $600 a month, as do the other

council members.

The opponents also say it would violate the spirit of the two-term limit on council members to allow an individual to serve on the council, then be elected mayor and then run again for the

council. Councilwoman Sally Anne Miller said residents adopted the two-term limit to reduce incumbents’ reelection advantage and ensure that new people have a chance to win council seats.

Those opposed to Measure E have raised more than $14,530 in contributions, much of it from out-of-town developers, for the campaign to defeat it. Proponents have raised about $4,062,

including a $2,021 loan from Agran.

If the city’s 47,931 registered voters approve Measure E, the first mayoral election will be in June, 1988.

Measure C on the ballot in Costa Mesa is the first attempt by an Orange County city to override the so-called Gann limit on government spending. The Gann limit restricts the amounts both

state and local governments can spend. It has resulted in a $2.1-million surplus in Costa Mesa because tax revenue there

has grown faster than the Gann limit allows spending to increase.

Voters must now decide whether the city should give a rebate to property owners or use the money on road improvements.

The issue has generated little debate in the city, although City Council members Dave Wheeler and Mary Hornbuckle oppose the ballot measure, saying property owners should get the money.

If voters agree, the rebates would appear as credits on 1988 property tax bills.

School board races in Irvine and Huntington Beach have centered on spending issues and how to stretch dollars to raise teachers’ salaries and maintain school property.

One seat is being contested in the Coast Community College District, which serves the Newport Beach-Costa Mesa-Huntington Beach area. In Trustee Area 4, incumbent Conrad Nordquist has two

challengers: Hal Roach of Huntington Beach, a college administrator in Los Angeles, and Paul G. Berger of Costa Mesa, a businessman who formerly was principal at Marina High School in

Huntington Beach.

Businessman/Educator HUNTINGTON BEACH UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT

Psychologist, University Professor HUNTINGTON BEACH CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT

Parent, Scout Leader Governing Board (Short Term), Elect One

School Administrator IRVINE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT Governing Board, Elect Three

To provide more safety for the public, to improve the condition of the city streets, curbs, gutters, parkways and sidewalks, and to fund the construction of new sidewalks for pedestrian

safety and community improvement, shall the appropriations limit of the City of Costa Mesa be increased to the amount of the actual proceeds of taxes received in each year for the four

fiscal years starting with the Fiscal Year 1985-86? IRVINE BALLOT MEASURES Direct Election of Mayor, Measure E

Shall the Charter of the City of Irvine be amended to provide for the direct election of Mayor? Limiting Campaign Contributions, Measure F Shall the ordinance establishing a $150 basic

limitation on campaign contributions be adopted? NEWPORT BEACH MEASURE

Shall the City Council of the City of Newport Beach be authorized to enter into leases having a term not to exceed fifty (50) years and a return to the city based on fair market rent with

periodic adjustments of residentially developed properties in Beacon Bay?