ELECTION OF MAYOR AND VICE MAYOR
City Council Meeting
December 17, 2024 1
It is recommended by the City Attorney and
City Clerk that the newly-comprised
Council elect a Mayor, and then a Vice
Mayor, as required by the City Charter and
City Council Manual of Procedures and
Protocols.
6 Recommendation
Sections 6 and 15 of the City Charter require that
immediately following the induction of new Council
members, the newly-constituted Council elects one of
its members to serve as Mayor for a two-year term, and
another member to serve as Vice Mayor for a one-year
term, or until a successor Mayor or Vice Mayor is
chosen. Section 15 of the City Charter and the Council
Manual of Procedures and Protocols provide the
procedures for the election of Mayor and Vice Mayor.
3 Election of New Mayor and Vice Mayor
Procedure
Section XII of the Council Manual of Procedures and Protocols establishes the following procedure:
a. The incumbent Mayor acts as the Presiding Officer and calls for nominations for a new Mayor.
b. Each nomination must receive a second and be accepted by the nominee.
c. If only one Council Member has been nominated, the
Presiding Officer declares that individual to be the newly- elected Mayor by unanimous consent.
d. If two or more Council Members have been nominated,
election is by process of elimination as follows:
4 Procedure (cont’d)
Each Council Member shall vote by ballot for a number of nominees that equals one fewer than the total number of nominees.
Nominees receiving one vote or no votes are eliminated. Subsequent votes shall be taken by ballot with each Council Member voting for one fewer nominee than voted for in the previous round. Only nominees not eliminated may be voted upon.
Once a single nominee receives a majority vote, the Presiding Officer shall declare that nominee the newly-elected Mayor and then pass the gavel to the new Mayor.
f. The new Mayor then calls for nominations for a new Vice Mayor using the same process.
5 Recommended Additional Process if Needed
The existing rules do not provide a process for
Council to move forward in every possible situation.
For example: 3 nominees and a 3-2-2 vote.
Recommended additional process Council may
choose to adopt for use this evening if there is a tie
that cannot be resolved using the existing rules:
Run-off vote, by ballot, to eliminate one of the
two nominees tied with the lowest votes
Need to adopt process by motion.