CITY COUNCIL POLICY
SUBJECT: ELECTION OF MAYOR AND VICE MAYOR AND DAIS SEATING ORDER
NO.: A-6
PURPOSE:
To establish a Council Procedure for the annual election of Mayor and Vice Mayor and the Councilmember seating arrangement at the dais.
DEFINITIONS:
For purposes of this policy, “ Highest Ranking Member” shall mean the member who has served on City Council for the greatest number of consecutive days in the immediately preceding ten (10)1 years. For purposes of determining the number of consecutive days served, the first day of service shall be the date the councilmember was first sworn in as a councilmember in the immediately preceding ten (10) years.
If two or more counc ilmembers have served for the same number of consecutive days in the immediately preceding ten (10) years, “Highest Ranking Member” shall mean the member who has served on City Council for the greatest number of consecutive days in the immediately preceding ten (10) years and received the highest number of votes in the election that initiated their current consecutive years of service.
For purposes of this policy, “S eniority” shall be determined by number of consecutive days of service in the immediately preceding ten (10) years and , if necessary to break a tie, then by the number of votes2 received in the election that initiated the councilmembers’ current consecutive years of service. For purposes of determining the number of consecutive days served, the first day of service shall be the date the councilmember was first sworn in as a councilmember in the immediately preceding ten (10) years.
A councilmember who returns to City Council after a break in service of any duration starts over for purposes of determining rank and Seniority.
1 Ten (10) years rather than e ight (8) years has been used to account for the fact the Charter Section 500 permits councilmembers who have been appointed or elected to fill an unexpired term of not more than two years in length to serve t wo additional consecutive four -year terms, and, therefore, a councilmember appointed to fill a vacancy may serve up to ten (10) consecutive years.
2 The highest number of votes shall equate to the most seniority.
Attachment 2
CITY COUNCIL POLICY
SUBJECT: ELECTION OF MAYOR AND VICE MAYOR AND DAIS SEATING ORDER
NO.: A-6
POLICY:
1. Election Process
a. Pursuant to Sections Section 500 and 505 of the City Charter, the Council shall elect one of its members to serve as Mayor and one member to serve as Vice Mayor, both for one-year terms, at the first Council meeting in January of each year. The elections shall be listed jointly consecutively on the agenda.
b. After the Mayor or City Clerk opens the agenda item, the Mayor shall open the floor to for public comment as toon both positions.
c. At the close of the public comment period, the floor shall be open for a nomination(s) for Mayor pursuant to the Informal Rotation outlined in Section 2 of this Policy . The Mayor shall recognize any Councilmember who wants to make a nomination. A motion and a second for the member next in the rotation shall be made and a vote will be in order. Upon receiving a majority vote of the Council, that member will be selected for Mayor.
d. At the close of the nominations, a vote will be in order and a member of the Council selected for Mayor. If no member receives a majority vote of the members prese nt, a second vote will be taken or, at the discretion of the Council, the nomination process repeated.
The Council may determine by majority vote that it will entertain additional nominees.
If more than one nomination is made, each Councilmember shall vote for one nominee of their choice by ballot. Ballots will be collected, and the City Clerk will publicly announce each Councilmember’s vote. The nominee receiving a majority vote of the Council will be selected for Mayor. In the event no nominee receives a majority vote, the Councilmembers will vote again until one nominee receives a majority vote. (i). After the election of Mayor, the same process shall be followed for the election of Vice Mayor, beginning with the nomination process described in subsection c. above.
CITY COUNCIL POLICY
SUBJECT: ELECTION OF MAYOR AND VICE MAYOR AND DAIS SEATING ORDER
NO.: A-6
(ii). The Council may, by majority vote, choose to use another procedure for the election of Mayor and Vice Mayor provided that public participation in the process is not diminished.
e. After the election of Mayor, the same process shall be used procedure will be repeated for the election of Vice Mayor, beginning with the nomination process described in subsection c. above. Step c above.
f. The Council may, by majority vote, utilize another procedure for the election of Mayor and Vice Mayor provided the public participation in the process is not diminished.
2. Informal Rotation
a. T
he following will provide historical guidance for the rotation of the seats of Mayor and Vice Mayor in the City of Mountain View. The rotation system outlined is not mandatory. Rather, it is designed to provide guidance to the Council in selecting the Mayor and Vice Mayor.
b. T
he Vice Mayor succeeds to the Mayor’s position.
c.d. One year of prior service as a past or present member of the Mountain View City Council on the Council is recommended to be eligible for the position of Mayor. d. If the Vice Mayor is unable or elects not to succeed to the Mayor position and all eligible Councilmembers have served as Mayor once in the preceding 10 years, then the Councilmember who has had the greatest number of days between the conclusion of their service as Mayor and the date of the nomination shall serve as Mayor. e.c. The most senior member Highest Ranking Member of the Council who has not yet served as Mayor in their current consecutive years of service and has not been recalled since their most recent election or reelection to the City Council would rotates into the position of Vice Mayor.
d. One year of prior service on the Council is recommended to be eligible for the position of Mayor.
CITY COUNCIL POLICY
SUBJECT: ELECTION OF MAYOR AND VICE MAYOR AND DAIS SEATING ORDER
NO.: A-6
f.e. If there is no senior member of the all current Council councilmembers have who has not served as Mayor in their current consecutive years of service, then any incoming (newly elected or appointed) councilmember will be is eligible for election to the Vice Mayor position. If there are no incoming Councilmembers, then the Councilmember who has had the greatest number of days between the conclusion of their service as Mayor and the date of the nomination shall serve as Vice Mayor. If there is more than one incoming councilmember, they will rotate in as Vice Mayor and then Mayor based on Seniority . determined by the current number of consecutive years served the number of votes they received in the election which initiated the first of their current consecutive terms. This ranking establishes the members’ seniority for purposes of this policy. Once a c ouncilmember’s position in the Mayor/Vice Mayor rotation is established, it does not change regardless of whether a newly elected councilmember receives more votes than a councilmember reelected to a consecutive term. f. If a newly elected Councilmember has not served as Vice Mayor or Mayor in their first term and is reelected without a break in service, they will be considered a current Councilmember for purposes of rotation into the Vice Mayor seat. This means that a Councilmember who is reelected and did not serve as the Vice Mayor or Mayor during their first term would have seniority over a newly elected person, notwithstanding that the newly elected Councilmember received more votes than the returning Councilmember.
g. If the Mayor or Vice Mayor seat becomes vacant during the one -year term for that office, the Council will determine the eligibility for filling the vacancy, taking into consideration the length of time remaining in the term and the wishes of the members in the rotation in line to fill the vacancy. A Councilmember who fills a vacancy for fewer than 183 days shall not be deemed to have served as either Mayor or Vice Mayor for the purpose of the Informal Rotation.
h. For the purposes of this policy, “senior member,” or seniority in general, refer to the current set of two ter ms (and any partial term) permitted by the City Charter. For purposes of this policy, the term “senior member” is used to distinguish that member from a “newly elected” member.
CITY COUNCIL POLICY
SUBJECT: ELECTION OF MAYOR AND VICE MAYOR AND DAIS SEATING ORDER
NO.: A-6
ih. Councilmembers elected or appointed to a term of less than four (4) years shall be placed in rotation immediately behind members previously elected or appointed and those elected to a full term at the same election. If more than one member is elected or appointed, they shall be placed in the rotation according to the length of term and number of votes, as applicable.
3. Dais Seating Order
a. After the meeting at which selection of Mayor and Vice Mayor took place, the newly elected Mayor shall be seated in the middle position the dais. The Vice Mayor shall be seated to the Mayor’s right, and the Immediate Past Mayor shall be seated to the Mayor’s left. The remaining Councilmembers shall be seated according to their seniority with the next most senior member sitting to the Vice Mayor’s right, second most senior member sitting to the Immediate Past Mayor’s left and so on.
Audience
4th Senior 2nd Senior Past Mayor Mayor Vice Mayor 1st Senior 3rd Senior Rev
ised: December 5, 2023, Resolution No. _______
Revised: January 3, 2019, Resolution No. 18291
Revised: November 19, 2002, Resolution No. 16749
Effective Date: November 23, 1999, Resolution No. 16428