Most Races Set as Filing Deadline Passes : Elections: Scores of hopefuls officially in running for city councils and school boards with big decisions ahead.

Scores of Orange County candidates met Friday’s deadline to file papers to run in November’s elections, lining up for city council and school board races that some political observers say are unusually important this election year.

The array of candidates bring with them a wide range of views on such issues as slow-growth versus pro-growth and diminishing state funding for schools. There are also a handful of water district elections in the county, made crucial because of the state’s prolonged drought.

The local elections, while overshadowed by the governor’s race and other statewide contests, are particularly significant this year because of recent cuts in the state budget, according to veteran educators and city officials.

“Many veteran school board members are retiring this year, and so new people will be elected to those boards, and those new people must be capable of trying to deal with the shrinking budgets,” said Sheila Meyers, a County Board of Education member.

Santa Ana Councilwoman Patricia A. McGuigan, president of the Orange County League of Cities, said, “The cities are seeing the impact of the state budget, and I think this means the need for city officials who are willing to look beyond their city boundaries.”

Voters in Anaheim--the county’s largest city--will elect a mayor Nov. 6. Incumbent Fred Hunter, who is seeking another term, is being opposed, as he was two years ago, by Councilman Irv Pickler. The heated mayoral race in 1988 resulted in about $200,000 in campaign spending, and another expensive race is predicted this year.

In Santa Ana, the county’s second-largest city, voters will elect a mayor and three City Council members.

School elections this fall include a race in the Fountain Valley Elementary School District, where some candidates are charging that electric power lines near the schools are potential health hazards. In Tustin Unified School District, former Supt. Maurice Ross--a frequent target of criticism by the district’s teachers’ union--is seeking election to the school board.

There will be more than 40 local elections in Orange County in November, including at least 20 city council races, two community college district races and at least 10 school board and 10 special district elections. Because some incumbents are not seeking reelection, the filing deadline was extended to Wednesday in 14 races, including the Huntington Beach City Council election. State law requires a five-day filing extension whenever an incumbent does not run again.

Some elections were settled by Friday’s filing deadline, including the Saddleback Community College District and the Capistrano Unified School District, both in South County. Incumbents in those races drew no challengers, and state law provides for automatic reelection in such cases.

Some city elections will include ballot measures. Anaheim, for instance, will have eight measures for its voters to decide.

In Huntington Beach, the park-beach land dispute is one aspect of the city’s pro-growth versus slow-growth battle. Several slow-growth candidates have filed to run for the City Council, hoping to change the makeup of the council’s heretofore 5-to-2 pro-development majority.

Huntington Beach Mayor Thomas J. Mays and Councilman Wes Bannister are running for state offices in November and did not file to run for reelection. In a surprise move, Councilman John Erskine announced Friday that he also is not seeking reelection. Erkine, Mays and Bannister are considered pro-development.

Their departure means that three of the city’s four council seats in the Nov. 6 election are open. The only incumbent seeking reelection this year is Councilwoman Grace Winchell, a slow-growth advocate. Slow-growth forces in the city have vowed to win the three open seats and thus to capture a voting majority on the City Council.

Mission Viejo and San Clemente will also have City Council elections in which development will be a key issue.

Last February, a developer-financed campaign to recall Mission Viejo Councilman Robert A. Curtis failed badly, with Curtis winning the election, 8,679 to 3,835.

Curtis, a frequent critic of the Mission Viejo Co., has become so popular since the recall that he is now a factional leader. Several council hopefuls aligned with Curtis have filed for three City Council seats up for election Nov. 6. Curtis himself is not up for reelection this fall, but if three of his supporters win seats, he will clearly dominate the five-member City Council. Council members Mayor Christian W. Keena and Victoria C. Jaffe did not file for reelection, but incumbent Norm Murray--who supported the recall effort against Curtis--is seeking a second term.

In San Clemente, long a hotbed of pro-growth versus slow-growth political battles, the City Council seats now held by Brian J. Rice, Thomas Lorch and Holly Veale are up for election. Rice and Lorch filed for reelection, but Veale did not. Thus, at least one newcomer will be seated, and slow-growth forces have said they intend to win that seat. Issues in the fall campaign will include how much growth the city should allow. San Clemente has experienced chronic budget problems because of a small commercial and industrial base, and city staff officials say that some growth is necessary for fiscal survival.

School board races in two elementary school districts in Huntington Beach will be among the bitterest campaigns this fall, some observers predict. In the Huntington Beach City School District, there has been a recent upheaval within the administration, and the school board paid Supt. Diana Peters $126,000 to resign before her four-year contract expires. In the Ocean View School District, some parents have pledged to oust incumbents and elect new school board members because of school closures and other administrative decisions.