Council will appoint its new member

Alicia Robinson

It came as no surprise when the Newport Beach City Council on Tuesday

opted to replace outgoing Mayor Steve Bromberg by appointment, a

decision that has left some residents with an unpleasant sense of

deja vu.

Following the announcement last week that Bromberg will resign to

accept a judgeship in the Orange County Superior Court, the Newport

Beach City Council decided Tuesday to take applications for a

replacement through June 10 and to appoint a new council member June

21.

In each of the last two years, the council has appointed someone

to fill a vacant seat -- Councilman Steve Rosansky was chosen to

replace Gary Proctor in 2003, and Councilwoman Leslie Daigle was

tapped in 2004 when Gary Adams left the dais.

To some residents, three appointments in three years means the

council isn’t much of a representative democracy. They want the

council seat put on a ballot.

“They’ve already got two of the seven [council members] who were

appointed rather than elected when they took office,” said Allan

Beek, a member of environmental citizens group Stop Polluting Our

Newport. “If we get to three, that’s nearly half, and I think it

looks bad. It looks incestuous.”

When Adams resigned, it was unclear whether the council could

choose to have an election, so city officials got an independent

legal opinion on the city charter.

They were told the council is required to try to appoint someone

within 30 days of when seat opens, but if that fails, the council

must call an election.

“I know there are some people who are upset, but those are the

people who always tell us to follow the law,” Bromberg said. “They

don’t like to follow the law unless it’s something that works for

them.”

Beek’s response? Charter, shmarter. He suggested to council

members Tuesday they could purposely fail to agree on applicants so

the 30-day period elapses.

Frequent council critic Dolores Otting goes farther.

“I definitely think that the charter needs to be changed,” she

said. “It seems like appointments are a way of doing business now in

the city of Newport Beach.”

Bromberg leaves a long-unexpired term -- three and a half years --

but he said the appointment is only good through the next general

election in 2006.

The new council member, if he or she chooses, will have to run in

that election and then again in 2008 to keep the seat.

The appointee will be named to the council, which will then have

to choose a new mayor.

The city charter doesn’t list a succession process in case the

mayor resigns, so council members will follow the procedure they use

every year to pick a new mayor: Council members make nominations then

vote.

So far, three names have surfaced as possible replacements for

Bromberg -- Lloyd Ikerd, a real estate broker who was recently

appointed to the city’s economic development committee and in 2003

launched but then dropped an effort to recall Sixth District

Councilman Dick Nichols; Ed Selich, a developer who has been on the

Planning Commission for 10 years; and Bernie Svalstad, who owns a

finance business and in 2002 lost a race against Nichols for the

Sixth District seat.