Candidacy Documents for One of the Five Who Pulled Papers Is Returned

• Number of Prospective Ballot Names Remains at Five

BY BILL KOENEKER

The upcoming Malibu City Council election set for April 10 got off to an official start two weeks ago and has slowed down to a crawl as two holidays came and went.

As of Tuesday evening, only Andy Lyon had returned nominating papers.

No more candidates pulled nominating papers by Tuesday, according to the city clerk's office, as the Malibu Surfside News went to press.

By the end of last week, Joan House, Andy Lyon, Hamish Patterson, John Sibert and Jefferson "Zuma Jay" Wagner had gone to the city clerk's office to obtain the documents.

City Clerk Lisa Pope explained as the nominating papers are returned to her, they are sent off to the Los Angeles County Registrar Recorder's office for verification of the status of the voters making the nominations. They must live in the City of Malibu and must be currently registered to vote. 

"I hope to have Andy's back by Thursday," said Pope.

Councilmember John Sibert had already filled out a notice of intent to collect campaign contributions, according to the city clerk's office, but Sibert kept telling the local media beforehand he was not sure if he was running for reelection, but he did pull out papers by the end of the week.

The nominating procedure is a formal process whereupon candidates must obtain the signatures of not less than 20 Malibu registered voters "nominating" the candidate for a position on the ballot. No more than 30 signatures may be obtained.

Next April, there will be three seats open. Councilmember John Sibert is running to keep his seat, as is Councilmember Jefferson Wagner. Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich is termed out of office. Her seat will be up for grabs.

The last date to file nomination papers  for incumbents is Jan. 13, the last date for all others is Jan. 18. The filing period for write-in candidates is Feb. 13 through March 27.

Voters may request vote-by-mail ballots from March 12 to April 3. The last day to register to vote is March 26.