BEVERLY HILLS—Approaching the end of their four-year terms on the Beverly Hills City Council, Mayor Lili Bosse and Vice Mayor Julian Gold will run unopposed this coming election, which means there is a possibility no election will take place this March.

Jacob Goldstein and Michael Talei pulled papers to run against the incumbents, but both potential contenders failed to file them by the 5:00 p.m. deadline on December 5. Both Goldstein and Talei had run for City Council in the past, but neither challenger won their respective elections.

Beverly Hills City Clerk Byron Pope clarified to Canyon News that “all candidates run for City Council. Once elected, the Council then elects a Mayor and a Vice Mayor. Last year, Mayor Bosse and Vice Mayor Gold were elected for those positions by the council.”

Discussing Goldstein’s failure to file his candidacy papers, Mr. Pope said, “I don’t know why [he] didn’t file. When he pulled papers from my office, he said he would be back the following week to file.”

Regarding Talei’s no-show, Mr. Pope had no explanation, nor did he for Goldstein.

The City Clerk Pope continued, “We don’t call the candidates to remind them, they know the deadline.” He did mention, though, that “If the incumbents (Mayor Bosse and Vice Mayor Gold) did not file their papers by the deadline, the deadline would have been extended until December 10.”

Since the incumbents did indeed file their papers the same day, the deadline remained a “hard deadline.”

Upon hearing the news that she will run unopposed, Mayor Bosse wrote in a Facebook post, “With tremendous gratitude and a full heart, I have to share that I was just informed that the March 2015 City Council filing period expired at 5pm today and there were no additional candidates who came forward. This news means that we will not be having a council election after all. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your confidence, support, friendship and offer to help in my campaign. I am wholeheartedly grateful to serve our community and our beloved city, for another term side by side with you.”

Mayor Bosse was first elected to Beverly Hills City Council in 2011. Prior to being elected, she served on the Beverly Hills Planning Commission from 2007-2011, on which she was a chairperson for one term. She also served on the Traffic and Parking Commission from 1997-2002. From 2012-13, she served as vice mayor.

The City of Beverly Hills’ website additionally reports, “Ms. Bosse’s community activities include serving as president of the Beverly Hills Education Foundation, where she helped start the first Apple Ball and Walk for Schools. She is also a former trustee of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple and has been deeply involved with Friends of the Beverly Hills Public Library and the Rotary Club of Beverly Hills, among other organizations.”

Like Mayor Bosse, Vice Mayor Julian Gold was also elected to Beverly Hills City Council in 2011. Prior to that, he served on the Recreation and Parks Commission and on the Traffic and Parking Commission, of which he was chairperson. He is also a board certified anesthesiologist and is a professor of clinical anesthesiology at the UCLA School of Medicine and USC Keck School of Medicine.

City Clerk Pope is the Local Elections Official and the costs of a city election falls within his budget.

He shared the financial implications of an unopposed election with Canyon News: “We have $250,000 in our election budget.”  He suggested that at least that amount of taxpayers’ dollars could have been spent if an election would take place.

However, Mr. Pope said, “that number is underestimated because it does not include the costs of other departments helping us. For instance, on election day, we have police help bring ballots to the council chambers. We also have communications staff working with the media to relay information; we also secure city staff members to actually work election night to prepare ballots—and these costs are not accounted for in our budget.”