HomeMy WebLinkAbout09. Mayor Rotation WebRECOMMENDATION
AGENDA MEMO
TO: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
FROM: Edward W. Lee, City Attorney
SUBJECT: MAYOR ROTATION
That the City Council discuss this matter and give direction to the City Attorney for
preparation of a written policy to be adopted by resolution of the City Council.
DISCUSSION
At the direction of the City Council, I have prepared this report on the rotation of the Mayor.
Research has been conducted and various documents have been reviewed. A history of
all the past Mayors of Downey is attached for your information.
The Downey Charter in Section 504 provides as follows:
ORANGE \ELEE \46100.1
CITY OF DOWNEY, CALIFORNIA
DATE: April 16, 2008
"At such time as the term of a member of the City Council commences, and at any time
when there is a vacancy in the office of Mayor, the City Council shall meet and shall
elect one of its members as its presiding officer, who shall have the title of Mayor.... The
Mayor shall serve in such capacity at the pleasure of the City Council."
"The City Council shall also designate one of its members as Mayor Pro Tempore, who
shall serve in such capacity at the pleasure of the City Council. The Mayor Pro Tempore
shall perform the duties of the Mayor during the Mayor's absence or disability."
As indicated by the cited Charter provisions above, the selection of the Mayor and
Mayor Pro Tem are completely at the discretion of the City Council. My research
indicates that there is no adopted policy of the City Council which governs the rotation.
However, a "traditional" rotation system, generally consisting of a one year term, and
generally following an order by the Council Districts, with adjustments for certain
circumstances including: resignation or vacancy in office, not running for a second term,
term limits, declining the opportunity, etc., has developed over the years which appears
to be the guideline for rotation. This guideline for rotation of Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem
appears to be stated in a Memo, dated November 14, 2000, from the then -City Clerk,
Judy McDonnell, to the City Council which states:
"Through the years, rotation of the Mayor's position has been based on an order of the
Council Districts, with the last District serving as Mayor transferring to the junior position on
the Council, or at the end of the rotation order."
As noted earlier, this sequence in the order of rotation has been generally followed. The
exceptions to this order of rotation have been due to the occurrence of certain
circumstances which changed the sequence order of the Districts. By way of example, the
adoption of term limits in November 1993 resulted in a change in the sequence order in
1996 -1997, as Diane Boggs (D -1) was termed out and Barbara Riley (D -2) was selected to
be Mayor as the next District in the then - sequence. I also noted that subsequently in 1998-
1999, Council Member Brazelton (D -4) declined to accept the position of Mayor Pro Tem
and Mayor. These circumstances resulted in a new sequence order which in turn created
the situation, as noted in a November 12, 1998 Memo from the City Clerk, Judy McDonnell,
to recommend a revision of the sequence order to allow District 4 to be seated as Mayor in
2000 -2001.
In summary, the guideline as stated in the City Clerk's Memo of November 14, 2000, is only
a guideline. Due to various circumstances, the sequence order by Districts has varied over
the years. However, the guideline appears to have generally resulted in the consequence
that each Council Member has served as Mayor sometime during their first term in office.
While there are many options for the Council to consider e.g., a set sequence order by
District, I would suggested a policy, in the sense of fairness, which would allow every
Council Member to serve a one -year term as Mayor during their first term of office. The
suggested policy is:
"The Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem rotation policy shall be by Councilman Districts, adjusted
so that each member will have the opportunity to be Mayor during his or her first term of
office."
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Attachments: Various memos
ORANGE \ELEE \46100.1
2
INTER - OFFICE MEMO
TO: Mayor Keith McCarthy and Members of City Council
FROM: Judy McDonnell, City Clerk ' -�hi.l` )
SUBJECT: Reorganization of City Council
DATE: November 14, 2000
As previously indicated, reorganization of the City Council will take place at 7 :00 p.m., Tuesday,
December 5, 2000, in the Downey City Council Chamber. At that time, the Council will also
elect a new Mayor.
Through the years, rotation of the Mayor's position has been based on an order of the Council
Districts, with the last District serving as Mayor transferring to the junior position on the Council,
or at the end of the rotation order. The rotation was always based on fairness with the thought of
giving everyone an opportunity to serve as Mayor. Unfortunately, a four -year term divided by
five Council Members does not come out evenly. We have listed the last nine years (1991 to
present) to illustrate how the rotation into the Mayor's seat has occurred:
District Year
5 1991 -2
1 1992 -3
4 1993-4
2 1994 -5
3 1995 -6
5 1996 -7
2 1997 -8
3 1998 -9
1 1999 -0
Based on this information, the new rotation order would be:
District 4 Mayor
2 Mayor Pro Tern
3
5
1
jm
cc: Gerald Caton, City Manager
INTER - OFFICE MEMO
DATE: November 12, 1998
TO: Mayor Gary P. McCaughan and Members of City Council
FROM: Judy McDonnell, City Clerk 7p \--)
The Reorganization Meeting of the City Council will occur on December 1, 1998, at 7:00 p.m.
With the new Council Members being seated on that date and based on the current seating of the
Council on the dais, it is proposed the seating order be as follows:
jm
SUBJECT: City Council Seating Arrangement
Dist. Five Mayor Pro Tem Mayor Dist. Two Dist. Four
Dist. One Dist. Three
At the present time, the District Two Council Member is sitting in the `junior" Council seat on the
dais, having served as Mayor for thel 997-98 fiscal year. As you may recall, the rotation order
went out of sequence at the Reorganization Meeting following the November 1996 election, when
the District Four Council Member relinquished the opportunity to serve as Mayor Pro Tem and
the District Two Council Member moved into the Mayor Pro Tem position. The District Four
Council Member then moved to the "junior" position. Inasmuch as District Four has not served
as Mayor since fiscal year 1993 -94, it is recommended during the December 1998 Reorganization
meeting that the District Four position be situated to directly follow the District Five position on
the Council dais, hence the above configuration.
For the next four years, the projected terms of Mayor are as follows:
June 24, 1998 - June, 1999.— District Three
June, 1999 - June, 2000 — District One
June, 2000 - December 5, 2000 — District Five
December 5, 2000 - December 4, 2001 -- District Four
December 4, 2001 - December 3, 2002 — District Two
cc: City Manager