YORBA LINDA

When local voters go to the polls in March to elect a fifth City Council member, their focus won’t be so much on the scandal at City Hall as on the integrity of each candidate, predicted Annette Gross, president of the Yorba Linda Chamber of Commerce.

City officials are in the midst of the controversy surrounding City Manager Arthur C. Simonian, who was reinstated by court order in November after the council fired him by a 3-2 vote in September. Each of the four council members have said that voters will probably judge the candidates according to their positions on Simonian, who has been accused of financial malfeasance and remains on paid administrative leave until the council can reach a consensus on whether to oust him again or fully reinstate him.

The fifth council member, who is to serve the rest of Gene Wisner’s term, until 2002, would be the swing vote.