COUNCIL SELECTS BOYDSTON FOR SEAT MAYOR STOPS COSTLY ELECTION ON FIRST NIGHT.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- On her first night wielding the gavel, newly minted Mayor Marsha McLean yanked the Santa Clarita City Council from considering a costly special election and steered it toward choosing place keeper Timothy Ben Boydston to fill a vacant council seat.

Boydston, executive director of the Canyon Theatre Guild, said he felt honored and a little surprised by the decision reached Tuesday night after council members butted heads about the first five candidates nominated by a citizens panel, and began considering the second five.

Boydston was elected in a 3-1 vote -- Councilwoman Laurene Weste the sole dissenting vote -- mainly because he had agreed he would not run for the seat when the term expires in spring 2008.

``I think it (would have been) a waste of taxpayers' money to hold a special election ... and (the 2008 election) should be a fair and impartial election,'' Boydston said Tuesday night. ``A vacancy doesn't come up (very often), and an incumbent would have a great advantage.''

The seat was vacated by Cameron Smyth, who was elected last month to the state Assembly.

Council members were determined to make a decision Tuesday after reaching an impasse at a special meeting last week. At the earlier meeting, they interviewed the top five candidates pared from a field of 15 by a community panel.

The council twice split 2-2 on retired sheriff's Chief Bob Spierer, and voted 2-2 on parks Commissioner Laurie Ender and Planning Commissioner Bill Kennedy. Maria Gutzeit, president of the Newhall County Water District board, and Bill Bolde, principal of Saugus High School, both were rejected 3-1.

Weste floated the option of handing the decision to voters, which was seen as a last resort because it would have cost $175,000 and left the seat vacant until June.

McLean was not ready to abandon the process and proposed that each of the second-tier candidates get five minutes to ``plead their case.'' Council members did not question the five, and after squabbling about the change in plans and rejecting the other four, chose Boydston.

Gutzeit, who was among Ferry and Weste's top three picks last week, might have been a victim of her own success. She helped restore civility on the water board, and many predicted that her departure would threaten its viability.

Most agree that the appointee would have the incumbent's edge in the next election, but requiring the candidates' promise not to run -- as a condition of taking office -- would violate their civil rights.

Two of the 15 candidates had pledged not to run, and five were undecided, but some on the council said the job has such a steep learning curve that appointing someone who will run made sense. But they couldn't agree.

Kennedy applauded the action, saying it would not be in the community's best interest to leave the seat vacant for six months.

``I think at least if they were going to `settle' on a candidate, instead of picking one of the candidates recommended by the citizens panel, they did act correctly in picking a caretaker,'' he said. ``So the people can have their say later.''

Bruce McFarland, president of the Democratic Alliance for Action in Santa Clarita, earlier questioned the insularity of having council members choose panelists who would pick the finalists.

``As it played out, we saw how the flaws didn't help address the problem of finding a qualified person to serve and then serve again,'' he said. ``Out of frustration, they picked somebody they thought would do the least damage, as a caretaker, which I thought they should have done in the first place.''

The council was required to appoint someone or call for a special election by Jan.3.

Boydston will be sworn in Tuesday.

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