From: Patrice Olds
To: Prasanna Rasiah; Martin McTaggart
Subject: FW: Charter Amendment Language for Mayoral Rotation Date: Tuesday, January 2, 2024 4:44:55 PM
From: Seema Patel
Sent: Tuesday, January 2, 2024 4:40 PM
To: City Council (San Mateo) <[email protected]> Subject:
Charter Amendment Language for Mayoral Rotation
Hello City Council!
I'd like to reiterate my public comment from the last discussion of the Charter Amendments concerning
the Mayoral rotation. I believe that some of the language needs to be clarified to eliminate ambiguity.
Both the existing and proposed Charter language reads, "The council shall meet at the first regular council meeting in December following a general municipal election and canvass the returns thereof.
The new members shall then be inducted into office, whereupon the council shall elect the mayor and deputy mayor..."
In December of 2022 supporters of delaying the Mayoral vote beyond the vacancy appointment claimed the Charter supported that course of action by arguing that appointments to vacant seats
were included in the directive, “The new members shall then be inducted into office…” (emphasis mine).
I suggest including the word "elected" in that sentence to make it crystal clear that "new members" does not include appointed members, e.g.
"The newly elected members shall then be inducted into
office…” (emphasis mine).
Thank you for your consideration!
Regards,
Seema Patel