COUNCIL RECALL EFFORT STUCK IN COURT LOGJAM.

Byline: R.A. Hutchinson Daily News Staff Writer

A courthouse backlog means that the fate of a recall drive against all five City Council members isn't likely to be decided until summer.

After a California Court of Appeal issued a ruling in late March on the validity of some recall petition signatures, the panel referred the issue back to the Los Angeles Superior Court, where it was first heard.

However, Judge Diane Wayne, who originally handled the case, is being treated for cancer. Her cases are being redistributed, but Agoura Hills City Manager David Adams said the court is overloaded.

``We haven't heard anything on the recall. We don't expect to hear until June or July,'' he said.

Citizens Against New Local Taxes, which formed after the council approved a utility users tax in 1994, targeted council members in a petition drive intended to force a recall election.

The recall group eventually submitted petitions with what its leader considered a sufficient number of names to force a second look at the five council members.

A controversy subsequently erupted over the validity of some signatures, and the recall group sued.

In March, the appeal court agreed with the anti-tax group that addresses printed in by petition gatherers should be considered valid, but the court ruling is unclear as to which petitions could qualify for a special election.

However, the appeal court disagreed with a lower court decision to allow 94 late voter-registration cards to be counted toward the valid signatures.