Daily Pilot: 09.23.03

Council to Accept Bids for Seat

June Casagrande, Daily Pilot

NEWPORT BEACH - The City Council will begin accepting applications from District 2 residents who want to replace departing Councilman Gary Proctor.

Amid a heated debate over how to find a successor, council members decided to begin accepting applications now and work out later the details of how to sort through the candidates.

"We don't know if we're going to get five applicants or 50, we don't have a clue," Mayor Steve Bromberg said.

A number of residents offered suggestions about how to best find a replacement. Some said applicants should be required to gather signatures.

According to the City Charter, the council has 30 days after a council members departure to appoint a replacement. If no replacement is selected the matter goes to a special election.

FreeNewport.com spokesman Bryan Clarkson argued that Proctor's seat should have already been declared vacant because of a series of Proctor's recent absences.

"Resident of West Newport have suffered long enough without representation," Clarkson said. "They now deserve their chance to vote for their representative."

The West Newport Beach councilman surprised colleagues last week when he announced he would step down more than a year before his term ends in November 2004.

Proctor, a longtime expert in airport issues, ran for office three years ago on a platform of opposing John Wayne Airport expansion. Since the El Toro airport plan was shot down last year at in the Measure W vote, and since the John Wayne Settlement Agreement was extended last year, Proctor decided that his purpose for being on the council had become somewhat moot. He said he would step down to focus more attention on his law practice and his family.

His official date of resignation is Sept. 30. Proctor did not attend Tuesday's meeting, which would have been his last.