CITY OF SANTA CLARITA
AGENDA REPORT
NEW BUSINESS City Manager Approval:
Item to be presented by. Frank Ferry
DATE: April 13, 1999
SUBJECT: MAYOR ROTATION SYSTEM
DEPARTMENT: City Manager's Office
RECOMMENDED ACTION
The following are recommendations for selecting a mayor, absent a directly elected mayor.
1.. 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.
2. Continue the current mayoral rotation system whereby the City Council selects the mayor based upon the number of votes individual councilmembers receive at election time.
BACKGROUND
When the City incorporated in 1987, the City Council adopted a policy (I-1, effective December 22, 1998) 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, McKeon received the highest number of votes so he was the first mayor. Following McKeon was Heidt, Darcy, then Boyer. As new procedure for selecting a mayor and mayor pro-tem, following a one-year term on the Council.
The following eighteen cities were surveyed from the "League of California Cities Directory." The cities were chosen based on a population of 90,000 or more. 11 of the 18 cities directly elect their mayor, 5 of the 18 cities choose their mayor based on a majority of three votes of their council (not based on rotation), and 2 of 18 cities (Santa Clarita and Downey) elect their mayor based on rotation.
APPROVED*, Agenda ltem: /4
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City Population Mayor Selection Process
Los Angeles 3,485,398 Elected Mayor
Long Beach 425,800 Elected Mayor
Glendale 197,560 Majority of Three Councilmembers
Santa Clarita 141,690 Rotational Mayor Based on Votes
Torrance 141,500 Elected Mayor
Pomona 141,385 Elected Mayor
Pasadena 135,000 Elected Mayor
Lancaster 123,197 Elected Mayor
Inglewood 118,484 Elected Mayor
Palmdale 116,202 Elected Mayor
El Monte 115,000 Elected Mayor
Simi Valley 106,000 Elected Mayor
West Covina 105,000 Majority of Three Councilmembers
Burbank 102,000 Majority of Three Councilmembers
Norwalk 100,948 Majority of Three Councilmembers
Downey 98,631 Rotational Mayor Based on Votes
South Gate 92,500 Majority of Three Councilmembers
Compton 90,454 Elected Mayor
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