La Cañada Flintridge City Council members Dave Spence and Jonathan Curtis will both seek re-election in March, they announced Tuesday.
Spence will be running for a seventh term as a council member. Curtis, the sitting mayor, will be seeking his second term.
The election to fill the two vacant seats on the five-member council is set for March 7. Candidates have until Dec. 9 to file paperwork with the L.A. County Registrar/Recorder indicating their intention to run.
Spence was elected to the City Council in April 1992 and has served continuously since, including performing as the city’s mayor a record six times.
The gig hasn’t gotten old, he said.
“It’s just a positive thing for me, and I don’t dislike it at all,” he said. “It’s not tiresome; it’s actually quite stimulating to be involved in all these issues.”
It’s the issues that have most compelled him to run again. He said he wants to see the successful conclusion of municipal matters that include a move to a new City Hall at the former Sport Chalet headquarters. He’s also concerned about the forthcoming decision about whether to reduce the number of trash haulers from three to one and the establishment of the burgeoning Sister Cities program.
“I really wanted to be involved in helping to make those final decisions and the right moves,” Spence said.
He said he’s also reluctant to relinquish his posts on a number of county boards and commissions, where he represents LCF, bringing what he described as “significant benefits” to the city where he’s lived since 1969.
Those posts include the Local Agency Formation Commission, the executive committee of California Joint Powers Insurance Authority, the county library commission and the San Gabriel service sector board of the Metropolitan Transit Authority.
“The variety of commissions and boards I serve on are pretty significant and bring a lot of clout and power to the city of La Cañada Flintridge,” Spence said.
There’s another matter, too, he said. And that’s how much he enjoys working with his fellow council members.
“My colleagues are such smart and well-informed people to work with,” he said. “It’s just a real pleasure to be involved with [Mayor] Jon [Curtis] and Terry [Walker] and Lenny [Pieroni] and Mike [Davitt]. They’re like brothers and sisters, and I don’t want to give up that relationship when I still have the intellectual capacity and can bring a little bit of experience and expertise.”
Curtis said he plans to run again because there is more work he wants to do.
“Considering what we’ve accomplished over the last four years, hopefully in another four years, we can accomplish even more in the city,” he said.
Curtis has plans, he said, for kick-starting a healthy community initiative (he’s leading a community hike at Cherry Canyon at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday).
He also intends to continue pushing for the long-sought Sagebrush territory transfer while continuing to oppose the proposed SR-710 Freeway tunnel project.
And he’s indicated he’s focused on improving the quality of service Southern California Edison provides to residents and businesses, many of whom have been affected by recent unplanned power outages that lasted several hours.
Spence, Curtis Seek Re-Election to City Council
