California Code Enforcement Law / Municipal Law / / Real Property Law (909) 708-6055
October 28, 2014 Leave a comment
October 28, 2014 2 Comments
This post was originally written in October 2013, but never published.
Last night was the San Bernardino County Bar Association’s Annual Installation & Awards Banquet at the National Orange Show in San Bernardino. The back of the program has the Past Presidents of the San Bernardino County Bar Association’s Past Presidents from 1875-1913. Of interest to me was the 1960-1961 President, Waldo Willhoft.
I knew that Waldo Willhoft was City Attorney of San Bernardino for one term, from 1951 to 1955. In 1955, the Charter was amended to make the City Attorney a full-time position. Here’s what else I have learned about Waldo Willhoft:
Waldo Willhoft, J.D. ’30, was elected City Attorney of San Bernardino, Calif., by a precedent-shattering write-in campaign, which commenced forty-eight hours before the election last spring and resulted in a write-in vote of 8,642 for Willhoft and 4,659 for the incument [H.R. Griffin]. Mr. Willhoft’s first act upon taking office was to appoint as his Deputy his office associate, A.J. Flory ’48. Both men are continuing in the private practice of law at 415 Andreson Bldg. San Bernardino.
The [University of] Michigan Alumnus, Volume 58, Page 30.
You can see an example of Mr. Willhoft’s stationary in Ordinance 1980, which gives his Andreson Building address.
According to the State Bar of California, his full name was Waldo Oscar Willhoft, he was admitted in June 1931, and his bar number was 12549. He was born on August 14, 1903 in Nebraska City, Nebraska. He died on July 11, 1982 in San Bernardino. His father was Herman Willhoft, a cabitnet maker, and his mother was Marie Vitzikam.
He is buried in Encampment Cemetery in Carbon County Wyoming with his wife, Mildred Parkinson Willhoft, who lived from 1906-1997. According to the 1930 University of Michigan Michaganenesian Yearbook, he received an LLB in Law, he was from Nebraska City, Nebraska, and was a member of the Lawyer’s Club, Sigma Tau Delta and the Michigan Law Review. After Michigan, he became associated with a fellow Michigan alum, Charles J. O’Conner, Class of 1900 of O’Conner & Findlay in the Arcade Building in Colton. He wrote a book in 1929 published by Prentice Hall, called Modern Debate Practice and was the former debate coach in Peru, Nebraska.
In 1936, he lived at 1058 North 8th Street in Colton at the Porter Apartments with his wife Mildred. He was listed as the City Attorney of Colton and his office was at 159 North 8th Street in Colton. By 1949, he had moved to San Bernardino, and lived at 741 24th Street, and worked at 320 North E Street, Room 415. In other words, he worked in 415 Andreson Building.
Later, Waldo Willhoft served as special counsel for the Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Bernardino regarding the Meadowbrook Project and related litigation (including Andrews v. City of San Bernardino, (1959) 175 Cal.App.2d 459). RDA Minutes, June 2, 1960, and as acting Agency counsel, May 3, 1962 and again in 1964 in the absence of William J. Ward, Agency Counsel.
Prior to being elected City Attorney for San Bernardino, Waldo Willhoft was City Attorney for the City of Colton as early as 1934, as seen in the case of American Co. v. City of Lockport (1934) 220 Cal. 548.
Copyright 2014 Michael Reiter
October 28, 2014 Leave a comment
I’m not sure why this was not posted at the time, but for historical interest, here is a post that supposed to appear in 2013.
By Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law
San Bernardino Residents For Responsible Government, the political action committee behind the proposed recall, contacted me today regarding the last post on the Notices of Intention to Circulate Recall Petitions in the Proposed San Bernardino Recall for November 5, 2013.
The Petitions were drafted by Michael L. Allan, a Pasadena attorney. The decision to use process servers was also his decision. The rest of the petitions will be released to the public on Monday, as listed on their website. They say they have not filed the petitions against Wendy McCammack and Rikke Van Johnson yet. San Bernardino Residents For Responsible Government says they are giving the office holders 14 days to respond to the petitions.
Per the Charter of the City of San Bernardino, Section 122:
Within seven (7) days after the filing of the notice of
intention, the officer sought to be recalled may file with the City Clerk an answer in
not more than 500 words to the statement of the proponents and if an answer is
filed, shall serve a copy thereof, personally or by certified mail, on one of the
proponents named in the notice of intention. At the time the proponents publish
the notice and statement referred to above, the officer sought to be recalled may
have the answer published at his/her expense. If the answer is to be published the
officer shall file with the City Clerk at the time the answer is filed a statement
declaring his/her intent that the answer be published. The statement and answer
are intended solely for the information of the voters and no insufficiency in the form
or substance thereof shall affect the validity of the election or proceedings. The
notice and statement as referred to above, and the answer, if it is to be published
shall be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation, as described
in Sections 6000 to 6066 of the Government Code, adjudicated as such.
Seven (7) days after the publication of the notice, statement and answer, if it
is to be published, the recall petition may be circulated and signed.
The information you obtain at this blog is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is established by reading or commenting on this blog. You should consult an attorney for advice regarding your individual situation.
October 6, 2014 Leave a comment
Michael Reiter, Municipal Attorney. Partner with Cole Huber, LLP in Ontario, Roseville California 