HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-03-23 - AGENDA REPORTS - MAYOR ROTATION SYSTEM (2)CITY OF SANTA CLARITA
AGENDA REPORT
NEW BUSINESS City Manager
Item to be presented by'— Ken Pulskamp
DATE: March 23, 1999
SUBJECT: MAYOR ROTATION SYSTEM
DEPARTMENT: City Manager's Office
RECOMMENDED ACTION
The following are a series of recommendations/ideas for selecting a Mayor. Council
may wish to select one of these or create a different idea.
1. Leave it alone. Continue the current mayoral rotation system whereby the City
Council majority selects the Mayor based upon the number of votes individual
Councilmembers receive at election time.
2. Change the current system and let the City Council decide by a majority vote
who is the next mayor and mayor pro -tem, not to be based upon the past number
of votes a Councilmember received in an election.
3. Change the current system and let the City Council decide by a four-fifths vote
who is the next mayor and mayor pro -tem, not to be based upon the number of
votes received in a previous election.
BACKGROUND
When the City incorporated in 1987, the City Council adopted a policy (I-1, effective
December 22, 1988) of rotating the Mayor between each of the Councilmembers on
an annual basis to coincide with the City's birthday on December 15.
The rotation was based upon the number of votes individual Councilmembers
garnered. Originally, Buck McKeon received the highest number of votes so he was
the first mayor. Following Buck was Jan Heidt, Jo Anne Darcy, then Carl Boyer.
As new Councilmembers were elected, the City Council continued the "highest vote -
getter" procedure for selecting a Mayor and Mayor Pro -Tem, following a one-year
term on the Council. An exception to "the taking turns by highest votes received"
was made in 1994 when Jo Anne Darcy deferred to George Pederson so that he could
have a turn being Mayor while still serving on the City Council.
Continued To: 4- - 13 - q4 C=
w
At the February 9, 1999 City Council meeting, Councilmember Frank Ferry asked
that the policy for naming the mayor be re -visited. Here is some information from
other cities similar in some way to Santa Clarita. These cities all have a rotating
Mayor system.
Annual selection of Mayor by Council
Annual selection of Mayor by Council,
based on seniority, but can be
overridden
Glendale ..........
. $800/month
Sunnyvale ............ $500/month
San Fernando .... .$476.40/month
Thousand Oaks ....
$1,026/month
Burbank ............ $881/month
Folsom..............$600/month
ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS
No other action has been identified by staff.
FISCAL IMPACT
None.
ATTACHMENTS
None.