David Lau and Betty Tom Chu won two open seats in Monterey Park’s City Council election Tuesday, according to unofficial results from the City Clerk’s office.

Voters cast 2,982 votes for Chu and 2,607 votes for Lau. Luis Estrada came in third with 2,483 votes. Incumbent Sharon Martinez came in fourth with 2,100 votes.

Actor John Abajian got 207 votes Joe Ray Avila got 181.

The winners will join Mayor Frank Venti and council members Mitchell Ing and Anthony Wong. Venti publicly endorsed Tom Chu and Estrada with signs and mailers.
Most of the candidates zeroed in on an exclusive trash-hauling contract with Athens Services. Approved without a bid process in 2002, it is currently undergoing an audit.

Mayor Harry Baldwin and councilmembers Kevin Sawkins and David Gutierrez were running for re-election against one challenger, long-time resident Mario De La Torre. Baldwin appears to be the lone man out, with absentee ballots counted and 8 of 8 precincts reporting.

City Council:

Kevin Sawkins 1476, 25.6 percent
David Gutierrez 1451, 25.2 percent
Mario De La Torre 1444, 25.1 percent
Harry Baldwin 1381, 24.0 percent

City Clerk:
Eleanor Andrews 1728 (unopposed)

City Treasurer:
John Janosik 1710 (unopposed)

Measure A – Shall the Offices of City Clerk and City Treasurer be appointive?
Yes 979, 47.4 percent
No 1084, 52.5 percent

AZUSA — Voters returned the city’s incumbents to to two council seats Tuesday night.
Incumbents Keith Hanks and Robert Gonzales held the lead with only provisional ballots left to count Tuesday night. Gonzales had 1,338 votes, while Hanks had 1,141.
The were trailed by challengers Ed Alvarez, 1,025 votes; Paul Naccachian, 828 votes; and Nick Rosales, 426 votes.
“I’m very proud of my campaign and the team I put together,” Gonzales said. “The great people of this city saw my work ethic, saw I work hard for the people of the city, and they rewarded me by entrusting me with their vote, and that’s huge.”
Hanks expressed gratitude to voters that returned him to the council.
“I’m happy,” he said. “My three primary goals are to work to bring Target, bring the Goldline (extension), and to work to keep our electrical rates down.”
Other issues on the table included mining in the foothills by Vulcan Materials Co., local business development and eminent domain.
Opponents said they felt the business climate in Azusa is not friendly enough and cited the lack of grocery stores and shopping venues.
“We don’t have the markets necessary for people to shop, and the retail base has not kept up with the rest of the San Gabriel Valley community,” said Naccachian, a first-time candidate and business owner. “I just wanted to create a more proactive council to approach the needs of the city.”
Both Gonzales and Hanks said they wanted to continue to work toward redeveloping the city’s downtown and bringing in a Target store.
Hanks, an engineer for the city of Los Angeles, won his first council seat in a 2005 election.
Gonzales, an insurance consultant for State Farm Insurance, was appointed in 2007 to fill an unexpired seat vacated by Joe Rocha, who was elected mayor.
Rocha ran unchallenged as mayor. Vera Mendoza defended her position as City Clerk against Art Morales, while Marcene Hamilton, a CPA, was set to take over as City Treasurer.

SAN DIMAS — Less than 10 percent of the city’s registered voters showed up at the polls Tuesday, and when all the ballots were counted, a pair of incumbents appeared headed back to office Tuesday, according to unofficial results.
San Dimas and La Verne officials watched vote tallies for their respective cities take place Tuesday night in La Verne City Hall as a cost-saving measure.
In San Dimas, incumbent Jeff Templeton led all City Council candidates with 1,844 votes. Fellow incumbent Denis Bertone followed with 1,815 votes, officials said.
Challenger Sid Maksoudian, a liquor store owner who has challenged City Hall on several zoning issues, tallied 338 votes.
Kevin Kenny and Jeremy Kahn brought up the rear with 359 votes and 168 votes respectively, according to an unofficial tally provided by the City Clerks office Tuesday.
Mayor Curtis Morris cruised to victory unopposed with 1095 votes on early ballots, officials said.
The situation in La Verne was similar — Dan Kendrick ran unopposed and picked up 2,651 votes. In the race for City Council, Robin Carder had 1,375 votes; Norm Faustini, 895; Donna Nasmyth, 1,968; and Charlie Rosales 1,327, according to unofficial results provided by the City Clerk’s office Tuesday night.
Bertone, who was first elected to the San Dimas City Council in 1988, campaigned on a platform of fiscal responsibility and streamlining the process of doing business in San Dimas for business owners.
He said he would like to preserve the city’s budget reserves of $18-20 million through the next four years.
Bertone cited nature preservation and working with local schools as his top priorities.
Jeff Templeman, a councilman since 1996, said during his campaign that he would would oppose stringent regulations for local businesses and work hard to attract new businesses to San Dimas.

ROSEMEAD — A new majority in the city could mean big changes down the road.
The six candidates faced off on two opposing slates, with future development as a central battlefront.
Maggie Clark won with 1,914 votes, according to an unofficial tally provided by the City Clerk’s Office. Clark was followed by Sandra Armenta with 1,809. Armenta and Steven Ly, who had 1,790 were nearly tied all night. Three seats were up for grabs.
Mayor John Tran, who appeared to have been bounced from office, tallied 1,679. Newcomer Henry Lo and incumbent John Nuez also trailed with 1,511 and 1,280 respectively.
“I’m ecstatic, I think it’s wonderful,” Clark said. “I think the people want to have more control back in their hands.”
The slate backed by Clark swept the elections. The winners will join councilwoman Polly Low, who usually voted with the former majority, and Gary Taylor, who typically voted with the Clark. Low and Taylor were not up for reelection.
Under the new council, Low will likely be outvoted on most issues by a 4-1 margin.
Each slate included incumbents and newcomers. On one side Mayor Tran and Councilman Nuez teamed up with Lo, a member of the Garvey school board; on the other, Councilwoman Clark teamed up with Ly, an entrepreneur, and Armenta, a special education teacher at Sanchez Elementary.
Clark’s slate asked voters to reject the direction the city has been headed since Tran and Nuez took over as part of the council majority four years ago. They pointed most fervently to the city’s new general plan, a blueprint for future development that was approved by the council majority last year.
Their campaign alleged the general plan would result in a development boom and population increase, creating more traffic and less parking, and vowed to amend the plan.
“We’ll put it back to what it was, so each project would stand on its own merit,” Clark said.
Tran, Nuez and Lo countered that the new plan manages growth based on smart-growth principals. They said it would help bring development to struggling parts of the city and improve public transportation opportunities.
All of the candidates pledged to bring more mainstream retail to Rosemead, improve public safety and improve relations among residents of the diverse city.
Before becoming a teacher, Armenta, 36, worked for the city of Rosemead. She has lived in the city for more than 30 years and has also volunteered to direct local youth teams.
Clark has been on the city council for 18 years and lived in Rosemead for more than 40 years. She also served on the city’s planning commission for three years and on various regional boards and commissions and holds a teaching credential.

Ly, 23, served as vice president of public policy on the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce last year and is starting his own business in real estate and consulting.

Here are the preliminary results, with absentee ballots counted and 4 of 8 precincts reporting. Incumbents Kevin Sawkins, David Gutierrez and Harry Baldwin are running for re-election, with Mario De La Torre the only challenger.

City Council:

Kevin Sawkins 1214
Mario De La Torre 1149
David Gutierrez 1141
Harry Baldwin 1120

City Clerk:
Eleanor Andrews 1388 (unopposed)

City Treasurer:
John Janosik 1360 (unopposed)

Measure A – Shall the Offices of City Clerk and City Treasurer be appointive?
Yes 784
No 880

Here are Temple City’s City Council election results, with only provisional ballots not yet counted. Ken Gillanders and Cathe Wilson were running for re-election.

Vincent Yu 1791
Tom Chavez 1395
Chuck Souder 1077
Ken Gillanders 687
Cathe Wilson 673
Silenus Ong 381

Incumbents Stan Carroll and Brian Bergman and challenger Carl Westerhoff were elected to the La Habra Heights City Council Tuesday. They defeated challengers George Edwards, Faith Grimm and Vincent Gomez. Turnout was 33.4 percent.

Carroll received 806 votes or 25.5 percent of the vote; Bergman, 668 votes or 21.1 percent; and Westerhoff, 617 votes or 19.5 percent. Edwards received 461 votes or 14.6 percent; Grimm, 363 votes or 11.5 percent and Gomez, 247 votes or 7.8 percent.

Measure G, which will allow the city to spend nearly $1 million fire tax revenue was approved by 828 votes to 177 or 82.4 percent to 17.6 percent. This will be Carroll’s third term and Bergman’s second term.

The city clerk is posting live results through the night. Here’s the latest count:

The race for three seats on the Rosemead City Council looks like it could come down to the wire.

With absentee votes and all but two precincts counted:

Sandra Armenta 1372

Margaret Clark 1451

John Nunez 1037

John Tran 1344

Henry Lo 1219

Steven Ly 1364