Peter Amundson
Final April 21 results here. Updates 12 noon, April 20 and 1 p.m. April 13 – 1,107 additional ballots to be counted April 21 and added to totals for final result to be announced Thursday afternoon.
Apparently Arcadia residents want change in representation on the City Council, fewer big mansions, and to continue paying for the same level of great community services. In a hotly-contested battle, first-time candidate April Verlato and former Mayor Peter Amundson narrowly defeated former Mayor Bob Harbicht in today’s election (April 12, 2016) to fill two vacant seats on the Arcadia City Council. And voters soundly defeated a very contentious ballot initiative — Measure A — that would have repealed the current Utility Users Tax and forced the City to cut $7 million in spending, or 12.5% of the city’s budget. Also, Gene Glasco was re-elected to another term as City Clerk with more votes than any Council candidate — he ran unopposed.
April Verlato
The winners will be official Thursday afternoon, April 21, after all the remaining mailed ballots postmarked today, April 12, are received by April 15; and all the provisional votes are verified and counted. The additional delay was mostly due to 37 voters who did not sign their ballot envelopes — the law now requires the City to take eight days after the election to make every effort attempt to get those signed and returned. City officials said Wednesday (April 20) there are a total of 1,107 additional confirmed ballots to be counted. With only 438 votes separating the top three candidates (Harbicht won three of the seven precincts over Amundson and Verlato and only lost a fourth precinct by a few dozen votes), and only 23 votes separating the top two winners, it’s possible, though still unlikely, that the final tally could raise Harbicht over either of the two tentative winners. The ceremonial swearing-in ceremony will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 26.
Amundson, who was not subjected to any attacks on his positions or his character, had the most votes — 3,634, but that was only 25 more than Verlato.
<Story continues below the following graph posted on City of Arcadia web site April 12, not counting at least 1,300 more ballots received since this tally, and at least a couple hundred more expected to be received and verified before the April 21 final count.>
Verlato, who has been a lightning rod of controversy over her strong stance and efforts to instigate and support lawsuits against the City and a ballot initiative to create restrictions on the building of mansions, came in a very close second with 3609 votes. It’s unclear, after the Council’s 3-2 vote last week to approve a new and more restrictive residential zoning code to reduce the allowable size of newly-built homes, whether Verlato will continue her support of a far more restrictive pending ballot measure regarding the size of new homes. Two of the three votes in favor of the new code approved last week — Mayor Gary Kovacic and Council Member Mickey Segal — are leaving the Council later this month, although Amundson is known to be supportive of more controls on house sizes as well.
Bob Harbicht
Former Mayors Bob Harbicht and Dr. Sheng Chang were defeated, with Harbicht a much bigger surprise. He was considered the strongest candidate early in the campaign season since he often got the most votes in previous elections. But he was hit late in the campaign by a story and subsequent attacks from competitors that he accepted a very large donation from a developer. Harbicht lost by only 413 votes with a total of 3,196 votes Tuesday. Chang had a somewhat surprising strong showing with 2,260 votes.
The two biggest losers tonight were two candidates who ran and lost in the last election of 2014: Burton Brink, who came in a distant fifth with 1,049 votes, and Paul Van Fleet, who spent almost no money and was barely seen in the community. He garnered only 82 votes. Brink lost the support of the police and fire departments early in the campaign when he signed the petition to get Measure A on the ballot. Although he quickly said that was a mistake, he never recovered.
Measure A was defeated 4,910 to 2,735.
— By Scott Hettrick