Matt Leslie

Since Tuesday morning’s story about the cancellation of the June 17 Fullerton City Council meeting there have been not one but two special meetings scheduled. On Monday, July 2 at 9:00 a.m. the current council, presumably including at least one of the recalled members, will meet to declare the results of the June 5 election. The new council will be sworn in, and the meeting adjourned. No matter the intended low profile, we should expect at least a few members of the public to attend.

The following night, Tuesday, July 3, the new council will meet at 6:30 p.m. to address one procedural item and one big agenda item. First they will select a Mayor Pro Tem, then they will consider a “reduction in current Water Utility rates in regards to collection of the ten percent gross water sales, which the City transferred to the general fund in-lieu of franchise fees and property taxes prior to May 1, 2012.”

As the second senior member of the new council, after Mayor Quirk-Silva, Bruce Whitaker will certainly be named Mayor Pro Tem.

“Consider a reduction” means the elimination of the water tax. Both Mr. Kiger and Mr. Sebourn campaigned on the issue, and Mr. Whitaker has spoken about it in previous council meetings. It was one of the reasons given for the recall election itself. At the beginning of May the council stopped transferring the franchise fee to the General Fund, acknowledging the questionable legality of the financial arrangement for the past decade and a half.