Election season was a little more peaceful this year. The City of Los Alamitos appointed its new council on Aug. 23, with unanimous votes for the only three candidates who had filed to run in the November election.
Election season was a little more peaceful this year. The City of Los Alamitos appointed its new council on Aug. 23, with unanimous votes for the only three candidates who had filed to run in the November election.
Council members Troy Edgar and Warren Kusumoto were both appointed to new terms and newcomer Shelley Hasselbrink was added for a four-year term to replace Mayor Gerri Graham-Mejia, who is not running for re-election.
Hasselbrink was in attendance and said that she had wanted to run for council for several years, but waited until her children graduated high school, so she would have time to devote to the council job.
“The timing is just better now,” Hasselbrink said after being voted in.
Edgar joined the meeting by phone, since he was on vacation in Hawaii. Edgar and Kusumoto recused themselves from both the votes on each other and themselves. Each was unanimously re-appointed by Graham-Mejia, Mayor Pro-Tem Richard Murphy and Council Member Dean Grose.
Kusumoto and Edgar both participated in the vote on Hasselbrink and she was voted in with a 5-0 vote. The special meeting was held on Aug. 23, to beat a deadline for the city to inform the Orange County Registrar of Voters office that it will not be holding an election for city council in November.
“This is the first time since 1990 and only the second time in the past 54 years since City incorporation in 1960 that the City has not had an election,” City Manager Brett Plumlee said in a statement from the city.
Recent elections have been rather contentious. Hasselbrink was pleased to not have to compete in a campaign, and said it could signal a continually productive council.
“I think we’ll be able to get a lot more accomplished,” Hasselbrink said.
Visit www.cityoflosalamitos.org for more information or call 562-431-3538, ext. 201.