Ideas to Avoid Mayoral Selection Drama

Based on the recent repeated drama surrounding Glendale City Council’s mayoral selection, I proposed to City Council the following process that reconciles various competing interests and assuages concerns: In every city council election, the winning candidate shall immediately serve as mayor for one year and the second-place candidate shall serve as mayor the following year. There shall be no “best interest” clause that would allow council members to trade horses and interrupt the line of succession.

• This process reconciles an at-large mayor idea that has been proposed but has been defeated at least twice by citywide vote. The most popular candidate [who] would have been elected in an at-large mayoral contest still immediately serves as mayor, but the title rotates as it traditionally has done.
• On election years that select three council seats, the third-place winner would never have the opportunity to become mayor, but that candidate arguably would not be popular enough to win an at-large mayoral election.
• Council members would never be eligible to serve as mayor during their third or fourth years (only in their first or second year) thereby addressing the “unfair advantage” bestowed by a mayoral position during a reelection year.
• The “best interest” clause would not be necessary because the people would directly elect first place and second place candidates for immediate service as mayor over two years. The people themselves would be deciding who is in their best interest.
• Council members have expressed baseless concerns that a novice candidate who becomes a first-time mayor would not know how to run a meeting. LA Mayor Richard Riordan and SF Mayor Daniel Lurie ran businesses and never held public office before running large cities; neither large city imploded. Mayor Ara Najarian, who has been mayor several times before, still frequently asks procedural questions to city attorney Mike Garcia during city meetings. The insinuation that the average Glendale citizen is not equipped to lead the city on day one perpetuates our alienation and our view that council members are out-of-touch for having created an elite, impenetrable club for themselves.

Alex Balekian
Glendale