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STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: February 19, 2025
To: Honorable Mayor & City Council
From: Nancy Hunt-Coffey, City Manager
Subject: Consideration of Changes to the Annual Rotation of the MayorNice Mayor
Attachments: 1. Issues with rotation of third highest vote getter in nonpresidential election years
2. Third highest vote getter in non-presidential election does not rotate in as Vice Mayor/Mayor
3. Cannot be Mayor/Vice Mayor if a chance not reelected, will term out, not run for reelection
INTRODUCTION
At the February 5, 2025 Study Session, the City Council discussed options to address changes in the election cycle due to new State laws as well as the impact of term limits in Beverly Hills. This report is intended to summarize the direction given by the City Council at that meeting. Additionally, the City Council requested additional information related to the rotation of the MayorNice Mayor roles to determine if and how the thirdhighest vote getter in non-presidential election years would rotate into the ViceMayor/Mayor positions.
DISCUSSION
As a result of changes to California State law (SB 415 in 2015 and SB 970 in 2020) and Measure TL (term limits) which was passed by 81.5% of the Beverly Hills voters in 2022, the following is the current practice regarding elections and installations:
• The Mayor and Vice Mayor are installed in April of each year, regardless of municipal election dates.
• Two Councilmembers are elected in March of presidential election years and are installed in April at the same meeting where the new Mayor and Vice Mayor are elected/installed.
• Three Councilmembers are elected in June of non-presidential election years and are installed in July after the election results are certified by the County.
Therefore, in non-presidential election years, the installation of the new MayorNice Mayor occurs in April and the installation of elected Councilmembers occurs in July.
Meeting Date: February 19, 2025
As a result of the changes in State law, term limits and the current practice of electing/installing MayorNice Mayor in April, it is feasible that the third placeCouncilmember (by vote count) during a non-presidential election year could be elected by their fellow Councilmembers to the position of Mayor or Vice Mayor in April of the last year of that term, and cease to hold this office in July of the same year because he/she is not reelected, terms out or decides not to run for office. Therefore, the Mayor or ViceMayor could hold the office for 3 months after which time other Councilmember(s) wouldneed to be elected to fill the vacated MayorNice Mayor position(s) in July. Should this scenario occur, it is not clear if the term as MayorNice Mayor would then be for a fullyear (July to July) or for 9 months (July to April) to align with the April election/installation of the new MayorNice Mayor.
These changes to the election cycle led the City Council to discuss the terms, timing, and conditions that need to be met to become Mayor/Vice Mayor. At the February 5,2025 Study Session, the City Council considered recommendations made by the Election ad hoc committee (Councilmember Corman and Councilmember Wells), and thoroughly discussed the issues at hand. The Council discussed both the short- and long-term impacts of the changes to the election cycle.
Long Term Impacts
The Council directed that the elections will continue to follow the current pattern:
• The Mayor and Vice Mayor are installed in April of each year, regardless of municipal election dates.
• Two Councilmembers are elected in March of presidential election years and are installed in April (at the same meeting where the new Mayor and Vice Mayor are elected/installed).
• Three Councilmembers are elected in June of non-presidential election years and are installed in July after the election results are certified by the County.
Therefore, in non-presidential election years, the installation of the new Mayor/Vice Mayor occurs in April and the installation of elected Councilmembers occurs in July.
City Council also provided direction that Vice Mayor and Mayor terms should be for 1 year. To avoid partial terms, those who have declared that they will not run for reelection, will term out, or have the possibility of not being reelected during their year asMayor would not serve as Mayor, or as Vice Mayor in the year prior. * The original feedback from the Election Ad Hoc Committee was that the third highestvote getter in the non-presidential election year would not serve as Vice Mayor or Mayor.
Upon discussion of this possibility, the City Council asked staff to examine ways in which the third highest vote getter in non-presidential election years could rotate into the Vice Mayor/Mayor positions while ideally still serving a full year as Vice Mayor/Mayor. It should be noted that since there are five Councilmembers and elections occur every twoyears, the third highest vote getter would need to be reelected to become Mayor.
Attachment I lays out the rotation pattern and identifies years in which there is the potential for Councilmembers to serve as Mayor for only 3 months. Attachment 2 lays * There is a one-time exception to this provision outlined below under “Short Term Impacts.
Meeting Date: February 19, 2025
out what would occur should the third highest vote getter not rotate into the position of Vice Mayor or Mayor as originally recommended by the ad hoc. Attachment 3 lays out a possible rotation pattern where the third highest vote getter rotates into the position of Vice Mayor and Mayor and is able to serve a full term as Mayor, assuming the individual is reelected to a subsequent term. The impact of following this pattern is that the rotation of the other Councilmembers into the position of Vice Mayor and Mayor is pushed out to subsequent years, in particular for the other Councilmembers elected in non-presidentialelection years. This impact would be slightly mitigated by term limits or Councilmembers who decide not to run for reelection; however, it is difficult to predict the effect of term limits, for example, since it is impossible to know where a Councilmember will place, in terms of votes, in future elections, and placement affects when a Councilmember will rotate into the position of Vice Mayor and Mayor.
Short Term Impacts
The changes outlined above related to MayorNice Mayor terms have an immediate impact on the currently seated Councilmembers. After serving an unprecedented 4 terms, Councilmember Mirisch will term out in July 2026, due to the passage of MeasureTL. Due to the Council direction outlined above, Councilmember Mirisch would not be able to serve a full year as Mayor, therefore he would not rotate into that position.
Additionally, since he cannot serve a full year as Mayor, he would not be able to rotate into the position of Vice Mayor in April of 2025. However, in recognition that these recent changes will have a direct impact on Councilmember Mirisch and out of respect for his many years of service to the community, the City Council supported the proposal to have Councilmembers Mirisch and Corman share the Vice Mayorship during the 2025-26cycle with 6 months for each Councilmember. Councilmember Mirisch’s term would run from April 1, 2025 — October 1, 2025. Councilmember Corman’s 6-month term as Vice Mayor would then commence on October 2, 2025 and continue until April 2026 when theinstallation occurs.
RECOMMENDATION
The City Council is asked to consider the information above and provide direction relatedto the rotation of Councilmembers into the position of Mayor and Vice Mayor, considering the changes to the election cycles. Additionally, the City Council is asked to provide direction related to the changes to the policy manual which memorialize the direction for the Mayor to serve for 1 year and that a Councilmember can only become Vice Mayor if they will subsequently be able to serve as Mayor for 1 year.
Nancy Hunt-Coffey,
City Manager
Approved By
* There is a one-time exception to this provision outlined below under “Short Term Impacts.”Page 3 of 3
Attachment
1 Issues with Rotation of Third Highest Vote Getter in Non-PresidentiaL ELection Years MayorNice Mayor Rotation Mayor Vice Mayor ELection
April 2025 2022--2 2022--3 & 2024--iApril2026 2024--i 2024--2 June 2026April2027 2024--2 2026--iApril2028 2026--i 2026--2 April2028 April2029 2026--2 2026--3
2026--3 becomes Mayor in April,
May not be reelected in June.
April2030 2026--3 2028--i June 2030 Possibility for 3 month Mayor April2O3i 2028--i 2028--2
2028--2 becomes Mayor in April,
but may not be reelected. 2030--i
may need to ascend from
April2032 2028--2 2030--i April2032 Councilmemberto Mayor April 2033 2030--i 2030--2
2030--2 becomes Mayor/2030--3
becomes Vice Mayor in April, maynot be reelected in June.
Possibility for 3 month Mayor &
April 2034 2030--2 2030--3 June 2034 Vice MayorApril2035 2030--3 2032--i 2032--i becomes Mayor/2032--2
becomes Vice Mayor in April, but
may not be reelected.
Councilmember 2034--i may
need to ascend from
April2036 2032--i 2032--2 April2036 Councilmemberto Mayor April2037 2032--2 2034--i
2034--i becomes Mayor/2034--2
becomes Vice Mayor in April, may
not be reelected in June.
Possibility for 3 month Mayor and
April2038 2034--i 2034--2 June2038 ViceMayor
Attachment
2 Third Highest Vote Getter in Non-PresidentiaL ELection Does Not Rotate in as Vice Mayor/Mayor Mayor/Vice Mayor Rotation Mayor Vice Mayor ELection
ApriL 2025 2022--2 2022--3 & 2024--i
ApriL2026 2024--i 2024--2 June 2026ApriL 2027 2024--2 2026--iApril2028 2026--i 2026--2 April 2028April 2029 2026--2 2028--iApril 2030 2028--i 2028--2 June 2030April 203i 2028--2 2030--iApril2032 2030--i 2030--2 April2032April2033 2030--2 2032--iApril2034 2032--i 2030--2 June2034April2035 2032--2 2034--iApril2036 2034--i 2034--2 April2036April 2037 2034--2 2036--i April2038 2036--i 2036--2 June2038
Attachment
3 Cannot be Mayor/Vice Mayor if a Chance Not Reelected, WiLL Term Out, Not Run for ReeLection Mayor/Vice Mayor Rotation Mayor Vice Mayor Election
April 2025 2022--2 2022--3 & 2024--i
April2026 2024--i 2024--2 June 2026April2027 2024--2 2026--iApril2028 2026--i 2026--2 ApriL2028 2026--3 may not get reelected,
would NOT be Mayor in this term,
ApriL 2029 2026--2 2028--i but could be in nextApril2030 2028--i 2028--2 June2030April 203i 2028--2 2026--3 April2032 2026--3 2030--i April2032
2030--2 & 2030--3 may not get
reelected, would NOT be Mayor in
April 2033 2030--i 2032--i this term, but could be in nextApril2034 2032--i 2032--2 June2034 April2035 2032--2 2030--2
April2036 2030--2 2030--3 April2036
2034--i, 2034--2 & 2034--3 may notget reelected, would NOT be Mayor April2037 2030--3 2036--i in this term, but could be in nextApril2038 2036--i 2036--2 June2038