Whether its for health reasons, family reasons, political reasons or otherwise, its certainly unusual that a sitting Mayor would leave mid-term, less than one year before the election. Whether appointment or election, it creates an expensive, somewhat messy transition that could have been seamless had DeVito finished up his term.

De Vito became annoyed Tuesday when former Ojai Mayor Suza Francina called his resignation “a serious matter” and said it had sparked questions in the community that “maybe there is more to this than meets the eye.”
De Vito, 77, who has served on the council for nearly 24 years, said his decision was personal, and any thought that he is leaving now to possibly benefit someone else “is as wrong as wrong can be.”
“Don’t you ever imply in any way I had some notion that I wanted this council to appoint someone,” he told Francina, raising his voice.

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I watched the video tape of the council meeting on local TV last night, to make sure that I addressed Mayor DeVito and the Council in a respectful manner.
I was not accusing him of anything, but I felt it was important to air out some valid concerns.
One of the points I tried to make was that if councilmembers did not assume that quitting early would automatically result in an appointment, but that a special election might actually be a carefully considered possibility, that councilmembers might be more apt to find reasonable ways to lighten their work load rather than vacating their seat early.
In October, the original staff report allowed for the appointment process to begin while Mayor DeVito was still on the council.
Members of the public pressed the point that Mayor DeVito could not be involved in the decision for his replacement. To the best of my knowledge, it was a member of the public who researched the law on this, causing staff to change their recommendation. In my mind, it is reasonable to assume that Mayor DeVito initially expected to be involved in the appointment process.
When I have time, I will share some history about past appointments. And will quote what Lenny Klaif said at the Tuesday night meetng.
If the Council does end up appointing a new member in January, three members of the five-member Council will have gotten their seat by iniitially being appointed (Sue, Steve and the January 2010 appointee).

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Suza, I don’t know Lenny Klaif at all (and can’t vote in Ojai elections) but if this statement is an indicator of who he is it sounds like the whole valley could benefit from his inclusion on the Council.
Really appealing.

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As I mentioned in Comment #3, if the Council does end up appointing a new member in January, three members of the five-member Council will have gotten their seat by initially being appointed (Sue, Steve and the new January 2010 appointee).
If you were here in the late 90′s, you may recall that when councilmember Ellen Hall left early, only three councilmembers were allowed to vote for her replacement: Joe, Steve and myself.
The fourth City Councilmember, architect David Bury, recused himself due to conflict of interest.
Joe and Steve voted for the appointment of Sue Horgan.
And Lenny had my one vote.

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the ovn is reporting that horgan will run for Treasurer and Tax Collector: http://ovnblog.com/?p=2250

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