Larry Agran sworn in as Irvine mayor — again. Special election scheduled

Larry Agran took an oath of office as Irvine’s new mayor during Tuesday’s City Council meeting, returning to a post he first held in 1982.

Agran, 79, bested six competitors in the mayor’s race, including former Irvine Councilwoman Tammy Kim, by claiming 39% of the vote.

A longtime fixture on Irvine City Council, Agran first served as a councilman in 1978. Ten years later, he became the first directly-elected mayor of Irvine.

Tuesday’s swearing-in marked the beginning of Agran’s sixth nonconsecutive term as mayor.

“I believe we are on the verge of becoming an even greater city,” Agran said after taking his oath. “My aspiration — our aspiration— is to continue to work together, overcoming our differences...to make Irvine the safest, smartest, greenest, healthiest and kindest city in the United States of America.”

With two years left on his current term on council, Agran’s victory leaves his District 5 seat vacant.

After being sworn in, Irvine’s new council discussed a special election to fill the vacancy. Per city law, the vote would be limited to roughly 28,500 registered voters in District 5, which that was not up for election in November.

Three other districts seated council members for the first time since Irvine voters passed Measure D, which created single-member districts and expanded the dais to seven members earlier this year.

City Clerk Carl Petersen noted that the earliest Irvine could schedule the vote would be April 15.

The special election could cost up to $625,000 to administer.

Petersen also stated that candidates seeking office in the special election could file to run between Dec. 23 and Jan. 17.

Joshua Moore, a District 5 resident, lamented the timing of the proposed vote.

“A low-turnout special election is not a terribly democratic way to arrive at a replacement for the mayor on this dais,” he said. “I’m not sure that there’s anything that we could do to encourage a higher turnout.”

Councilwoman Kathleen Treseder thanked Petersen for his work on what would be the city’s third election in 13 months. Following her brief comments, the council unanimously approved scheduling the vote for April 15.

“Good, we’ve got an election,” Agran said.

Council members could not so easily agree on appointing a vice mayor between Treseder and Councilman James Mai. The council deadlocked twice on 3-3 votes before agreeing to continue discussion at their Jan. 14 meeting.

In reorganizing the council after the election the council selected Mike Carrol to serve as interim mayor should Agran be unavailable to chair a meeting.