With a special June 9 runoff election quickly approaching, the Peninsula Community Planning Board’s field of candidates is shrinking.
Board members met Friday, May 25, to structure and organize an election forum to be held Thursday, June 7, at the Loma Riviera Clubhouse, 3115 Riviera Drive, at 6 p.m.
Board members used the opportunity Friday to discuss the ongoing process now in place to fill at least four seats that have been vacant since the last unsuccessful election in March.
The board currently has 11 seated members.
The board voted 6 to 1 to hold the forum to give the Peninsula community a chance to meet with the board before the runoff election.
The board also voted 4-3 to disqualify one candidate, Sean Devine, because there was no record of him attending a board meeting, which disqualifies him from candidacy in accordance with the board’s bylaws, said board member Geoff Page.
Page was among the board members who voted to deny Devine’s application.
Page said he voted to approve calling for an election forum because it keeps the issues in the public eye.
“This will be a chance for those interested in the whole election controversy to ask some very pointed questions,” Page said.
The controversy surrounding the elections has resulted in an unusual election structure that could have voters returning to the polls repeatedly on the same day.
Four of the eight remaining candidates must gain a majority vote ” or at least 51 percent ” until the four remaining seats are filled, according to the board’s bylaws.
The list of candidates includes Cynthia Conger, Darrold Davis, Edwina Goddard, Gary Halbert, Suhail “Steve” Khalil, Cleo Pearson and R. Jarvis Ross, according to a list passed around at the meeting.
The upheaval over this year’s election has shaken what was once a peaceful, effective planning board, according to board member Patti Rank.
Rank said she first became involved with the board for very simple reasons.
“I just wanted to drive down Rosecrans (Street) without having to wait 5.000 hours,” she said.
Before deciding to join the board, however, she said she had attended several planning board meetings, which satisfied a criterion for candidate eligibility.
The issue of board meeting attendance has come up before and was a factor when the board voted to deny Devine’s application on Friday.
According to a memorandum distributed by the City’s Attorney’s Office, an amendment to the board’s bylaws in 2000 states that a candidate must have attended at least one of the last six board meetings prior to an election in order to be eligible.
Although he could not prove it, Devine said he attended a meeting in February.
“They’re lost,” Devine said about the planning board in a phone interview.
“You need as much input from as many different points of view as you can get today.”
A homeowner since 1996, Devine said he is semi-retired but still runs his own computer company.
He said he plans to attend future planning board meetings and will be watching the course of the board and the elections as he prepares to cast his vote on Election Day.