A La Cañada Flintridge City Council candidate forum scheduled for later this month won’t include incumbent Leonard Pieroni, who continues to recover after experiencing a health issue.
The La Cañada Flintridge Coordinating Council is presenting the event at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12, at Flintridge Prep. Four candidates are seeking three seats; Pieroni, who has been serving a hitch as mayor, is among them, but he announced on Jan. 13 he would temporarily step back from campaigning because of what he described as a health scare.
On Wednesday evening, Pieroni told The Outlook that he is “getting better every day” but won’t take part in the forum. He said, however, he plans to be at the next council meeting, which will be on Tuesday, Feb. 4.
“He’s focusing on his health and just taking one day at a time,” his campaign manager, City Councilman Gregory Brown, said this week.
Pieroni and Councilwoman Terry Walker, city Public Works and Traffic Commissioner Keith Eich and former LCF Planning Commissioner Rick Gunter are running for four-year terms on the panel.
Nonetheless, the format of the forum will not be changed and Pieroni remains listed on the ballot, said LCF Coordinating Council President Becky Gelhaar.
Gelhaar said attendees at the event put together by her group will be able to submit questions on slips of paper, and organizers will make sure there are no duplicates before giving the queries to moderator Peter Bachmann, Prep’s headmaster.
The Coordinating Council is described on its website as a nonprofit organization that serves as the coordinating body for the many local volunteer and service organizations.
Candidates will give opening and closing statements and answer questions, Gelhaar said.
The forum, which will end at 8:30 p.m., will be streamed live on the organization’s Facebook page at La Cañada Flintridge Coordinating Council.
In an interview this week, City Clerk Tania Moreno said the last date for a qualified candidate to withdraw was Dec. 11. So Pieroni will remain on the ballot.
If Pieroni is elected and is unable or unwilling to serve, the City Council will have to determine the process to fill the vacancy, with two options, Moreno said.
“Option one, if they reach majority consensus (at least three votes) on a person to be appointed to fill the vacancy and that person shall serve until the next general municipal election,” Moreno said in an email. “Or option two, City Council may call a special municipal election.”
Moreno said the order in which candidates will be listed on the ballot was determined by California’s secretary of state in a drawing on Dec. 12. She said the order is Eich, Walker, Pieroni and Gunter.
A new Los Angeles County electronic voting system, which accommodates four names per screen, will show all four candidates, Moreno said.
Flintridge Prep is located at 4543 Crown Ave.
For more information, contact the Coordinating Council at (818) 790-2686.
Pieroni to Sit Out City Council Candidate Forum
