Holloway Won't Seek Reelection to Council Seat

Jerry Holloway talked Monday about not running for reelection to the city council of Rancho Santa Margarita, and he sounded a lot like an old athlete or retiring coach.

"At the end of the day, you know when it's time to move on, and it's time to move on," Holloway said. "It's not any more complicated than that."

The highest vote-getter in the city's history, and a man who won election three times, Holloway said he has been thinking about this decision for "the last three or four months."

"It got closer to the time to pull papers and plan a campaign, and the idea of not running started to feel right," said Holloway, who is the dean of students at Santa Margarita Catholic and who coaches freshman football. "I just feel like it's been a very productive 10 years and time to move along."

Holloway last served as mayor in 2010. He won election in 2002 for a two-year seat on the council, then won again in 2004 and 2008.

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He beat Christy Riley in 2002 after she had been appointed the mid-term replacement for Debra Lewis. Holloway received 55.6 percent, a total of 5,203 votes.

He was the leading vote-getter in 2004 with 37.1 percent of the vote (10,809 votes), and in 2008 with 39.4 percent (11,124), finishing immediately ahead of Tony Beall in both years.

Because Holloway, an incumbent, won't seek reelection the filing deadline for potential city council candidates will be extended to August 15, 5 p.m.. Two other incumbents, Beall and Carol Gamble, are running for two available four-year council seats. There is is also a two-year seat that's available, and Holloway had given some consideration to running for that seat while pondering a return to council chambers. "I'd encourage anyone interested in city council to run," he said. "It's a great experience."

Holloway said that he would "never say never" to another run at city council, though he now envisions helping the city as a private citizen instead of a public one. He has no aspirations for higher office.

"It’s been a wonderful experience, and I know that working with other council members and staff we’ve been able to do a lot of good things for the city," Holloway said. "The city of Rancho Santa Margarita is in a great position financially, and in other ways, and I’m real happy to have been a small part of that.

"I’m leaving and don’t have a sense that there’s unfinished business. The Chiquita Ridge project is going to take a number of years and it would be nice to be part of that, but I plan to be part of that on the public input side."

Chiquita Ridge will be the largest sports park project in south Orange County.

A retired lieutenant with the Costa Mesa Police, Holloway leaves as the city just got a new city manager last month, Jennifer Cervantez.

"I feel the city is in very capable hands both from a staff and city council standpoint," he said. "And there are a number of impressive candidates running for city council."

The field of potential city council candidates, besides Beall and Gamble, could include a number of people who have expressed interest in the seats, including Glenn Acosta, Kenney Hrabik, Larry McCook, Peter Whittingham and Brad McGirr.

The only council member with longer service to the city is Gary Thompson, an original council member when the city incorporated in 2000. Thompson won reelection in 2010 but resigned early in 2011 to tend to health-related issues of family members, particularly his father who passed away a couple of months later.

Editor's note: This story originally indicated the application deadline was Aug. 17, but it is actually Aug. 15.