Moatazedi, Tettemer Win City Council Races

Former councilman Mark Tettemer and newcomer Neeki Moatazedi won their races for the Lake Forest City Council on Tuesday.

With all precincts reporting, Tettemer defeated Mayor Jim Gardner in District 4 by pulling in 54 percent of the vote; Tettemer had 2,149 votes to Gardner's 1,830.

Moatazedi, only a three-year resident who has no record of any civic involvement in the city, won the seat in District 2; the Southern California Gas Company employee got 57.9 percent of votes cast, outdistancing retired educator Sonny Morper, 2,667 to 1,936.

Scott Voigts ran unopposed in District 3 and was rewarded with a third consecutive term; he received 2,586 votes.

All three were heavily endorsed by arms of the Republican Party of Orange County, and it's expected they will pave the way for developer Toll Brothers to build 800 homes on the Nakase Brothers Nursery property.

Measure Q, which asked if residents preferred at-large (citywide) voting to district voting, passed with 56.3 percent.

Measure R authorized the city council to return to citywide elections with the understanding that doing so could lead to litigation and financial exposure in the millions. It was defeated with 59 percent of the vote.

Measure S, was a term limit ordinance in which voters adopted two four-year terms for council members; it passed with 85.7 percent of the vote. The current term limits allowed elected officials to serve 24 out of 26 consecutive years.