With Less Than a Week Remaining, Six Have Filed Papers to Fill Vacant District 7 Pasadena Council Seat

With less than week until the deadline for petitions, six Pasadena residents have requested applications to fill the City Council’s District 7 seat vacated with the recent election of Terry Tornek as Mayor.

The potential candidates are Ciran Hadijan, Margaret York, Don Morgan, Lorena Yepez Hernandez, Andy Wilson and Tim Lan.

According to the City of Pasadena Clerk Mark Jomsky, each pulled the papers on May 14 but as of May 26, none has filed the required documents and paid the $25 fee. Whoever is appointed to fill the District 7 seat will serve until May 1, 2017.

The Pasadena City Council will convene a special meeting in June to interview each candidate individually. Each candidate will make a six-minute presentation before the council before the government board appoints one to fill Terry Tornek’s vacant position on the city council. Pasadena’s charter states that the council has 75 days, or until July 17, to choose an install Tornek’s successor.

Ciran Hadijan is an accredited urban planner and former city planning commissioner; she has volunteered with the Tournament of Roses Association and served on several city boards including the mayor’s advisory group, the board of zoning appeals group and the library commission.

Margaret York is the former chief of the LA County Police Department and was the Los Angeles Police Department’s first female deputy chief; she served with LAPD for 24 years before retiring in 2002.

Don Morgan ran for mayor in March and came in third; he is a community development consultant and professor at the University of Southern California. He and his wife moved to Pasadena more than 10 years ago.

Lorena Yepez Hernandez is a senior associate at VMA communications and a member of the Pasadena Commission on the Status of Women. She has spent more than a dozen years in community engagement, crisis management and public outreach while working at a variety of companies, including the LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority; the South Pasadena Convalescent Hospital and as a volunteer in education-related organizations.

Andy Wilson has served on the city planning commission and on the city design commission. He is the co-founder and co-chairman of Innovate Pasadena, a group that brings those interested in technology and startups in the Pasadena area together for weekly meetings and networking.

Tim H. Lan is an attorney with a Los Angeles law firm, Phillips Law Partners. Lan is a member of its Litigation, Trusts and Estates, Real Estate, and Business Practice Groups. He has 14 years of experience in business litigation, trust litigation, trust administration, tax, estate planning, and probate law.