MacDonald to run for Oxnard mayor vc star

MacDonald to run for Oxnard mayor

• By Gretchen Wenner
• Posted May 8, 2014 at 4:44 p.m., updated May 8, 2014 at 5:29 p.m.

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Bryan MacDonald

Tim Flynn

Oxnard Mayor Tim Flynn will face big-name competition from at least one dais colleague in November: Councilman Bryan MacDonald.

MacDonald, the retired assistant police chief first elected in 2008, recently filed initial paperwork with the California Secretary of State’s office for the race.

Oxnard’s mayor is elected every two years, while council members serve four-year terms. MacDonald is midterm so would keep his council post if he failed to unseat Flynn.

For months, word on the street has been that MacDonald would aim for the top spot. He was even listed as a mayoral candidate when speaking at a GOP group’s luncheon in late March. But the committee organization statement is his first formal move toward a run.

MacDonald said Thursday his top priority will be public safety. Oxnard’s crime rate has recently gone up while rates in some other cities have gone down, he said.

He also wants the council to operate more efficiently. The panel’s notoriously long meetings and its tendency lately to postpone decisions mean “everything that flows out from us is also inefficient because we slow everything down,” he said.

MacDonald plans to hold a formal announcement event in coming weeks.

“We’re going to approach this very simply and very straightforwardly and see where this takes us,” he said.

Flynn said Thursday he plans to run again.

“I’ve known for some time that Bryan is interested in running,” he said. “Naturally, if somebody can avoid an election (challenge), that’s obviously a desired goal. But I think it’s a healthy thing.”

Another hopeful, Larry Stein, a city critic who has run for various posts, filed papers for a mayoral bid late Thursday afternoon. Resident Enrique Petris filed in September.

The city’s Nov. 4 election — there is no primary — also puts the seats of council members Carmen Ramirez and Bert Perello in play. The formal nomination period hasn’t opened, but Ramirez has filed initial papers for a council run as have challengers Steve Huber, Nathan Parker and Jonathan Wagoner, according to the City Clerk’s office.

The nomination period will run July 14-Aug. 8, with a possible extension if an incumbent doesn’t run. Oxnard residents 18 and older are generally eligible to serve. For more information, call the City Clerk’s Office at 385-7803.

Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2014/may/08/macdonald-to-run-for-oxnard-mayor/#ixzz31I8Et5WZ
- vcstar.com