CITY COUNCIL VOTING PROCESS FOR
ELECTING MAYOR AND VICE
MAYOR
City Council
October 21, 2025
Teresa Stricker
City Attorney
1 Current Process -
Appointment of Mayor and
Vice Mayor (Charter)
Charter Sections 4 and 15 provide:
• Council elects one member to serve a
two-year term as Mayor following the
swearing in of new Council members.
• Council annually elect one member to
serve as Vice Mayor for a one-year term.
6 Current Process -
Appointment of Mayor and
Vice Mayor (Section XII)
Section XII of the City Council Manual of Procedures and Protocols process for election of Mayor/Vice Mayor:
1. Call for nominations.
2. Each nomination requires a second and acceptance.
3. If only 1 nominee accepts, that nominee is elected by unanimous consent.
4. If 2 or more nominees accept, election is by process of elimination:
Each Council Member votes by ballot for 1 fewer than total number of nominees.
Nominees receiving 0-1 votes are eliminated.
Subsequent votes are taken by roll call with each Council Member voting for 1 fewer nominee than in previous round. (only nominees not eliminated may be voted upon.)
5 . Once a single nominee receives a majority, the nominee is elected.
There is currentlyno process specified about how Council moves forward when a tie occurs that cannot otherwise be resolved by existing rules (e.g. 3/2/2, 3/1/1/1/1, 3/3 votes) 7 Recommendation
Based on feedback at the recent study session, the City Attorney recommends that Council amend the process as follows:
1. Limit to Three Nominees By Adopting the Following
Nomination Rules:
8 Council Members may nominate or second only once, but may not do both.
No Council Member may nominate themself, but may second a nomination for themself.
Recommendation
2. Modify Elimination Process. If there are 2 or 3
nominees, use the following modified elimination
process:
Vote by Ballot: Each Councilmember votes for only 1 nominee. If a nominee receives a majority vote, that person is elected. Elimination: If no nominee receives a majority, eliminate nominees with zero votes (or if none has zero votes, eliminate those with only one vote), but only if elimination does not result in only one remaining nominee.
Revote: If any nominee is eliminated, use process above to revote.
Recommendation
3. Add New Rules to Get Unstuck. Use the
following rules when the elimination rules do not
provide a path forward:
Run-Off Vote: To deal with low-vote ties (e.g. 3/1/1 or 2/1/1), take a run-off vote to eliminate one of the tied low-vote getters, then revote. Random Selection: For complete ties (e.g. 3/3 or 2/2/2), or any other stuck situation, following discussion, Council must either revote, or decide (by motion) to use random selection process.
Questions?
17