La Verne Cancels Upcoming City Council Election

Two La Verne council members and Mayor Kendrick have secured another term in office, after no opponents came forward for the March election.

The seats currently held by Mayor Don Kendrick and council members Donna Redman and Robin Carder were up for grabs in 2013, but because no one filed paperwork to challenge them, incumbents will be appointed another term each, said La Verne City Clerk Evelyn Leach.

“No one but the incumbents filed in time,” she said.

The nomination period in which paperwork could have been filed ran from Nov. 13 through Dec. 10, Leach said.   The elections code gives the council the option to cancel the election when nobody files during that time-frame.

Leach said that since three council members would be impacted by a decision to cancel the election, the city used something called the "Rule of Necessity" to randomly select councilwoman Donna Redmon to vote with Mayor Pro Tem Robert Rodriguez and Charlie A. Rosales on the issue.

The Dec. 17 vote was 3-0 in favor of canceling the election, which will save the city an estimated $70,000 "minus what was already spent," Leach said.

Redman and Carder will both have another four years in office, while Kendrick will be up for re-election again in two years.  All three will be ceremonially re-seated at a March council meeting.

This isn't the first time for such a cancellation to take place.  Just two years ago, in 2010, the city canceled the 2011 election for the same reason: no one else wanted to run.