Mayor and council race heating up in Morro Bay

March 8, 2014

Morro Bay’s qualifying period for mayoral candidates has ended with two candidates vying for the office, incumbent mayor Jamie Irons and former council woman Carla Wixom, then known as Carla Borchard.

Irons and Wixom were contestants in the 2012 race for mayor with Irons bringing in 52.97 percent of the vote and Wixom receiving 21.15 percent. The remaining two candidates followed with then incumbent Bill Yates with 20.41 percent and Joe Yukich with 5.29 percent of the vote.

Less than one year into his first term as mayor, Irons faced a recall effort.

In September 2013, Irons called for the firing of then city attorney Rob Schultz and then city manager Andrea Lueker. Irons eventually obtained a majority vote from the council, which reached separation agreements with Schultz and Lueker. However, the attempted termination of the city’s two top executives prompted the recall campaign, which fell slightly short of achieving the amount of signatures needed to create a recall election.

Several local businessmen contend Wixom has threatened then not to go into competition with her restaurant, Carla’s Country Kitchen.

The Morro bay race for council filing period has been extended to next Friday after incumbent Councilman George Leage announced he would not be running for reelection. Leage has been under fire for living in a non-permitted residence and claiming it is permitted for locals to park in red zones.

There are currently three candidates for council — Matt Makowetski, John Headding, and incumbent Nancy Johnson.