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Guy Wilson
By BOB NORBERG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Sebastopol Mayor Guy Wilson and Vice Mayor Michael Kyes were elected to second terms Tuesday night in a process that highlighted a split on the council.
Councilwoman Kathleen Shaffer, who was absent, was nominated by Councilman Patrick Slayter, but was rejected in a 1-3 vote. Mayor Guy Wilson, Vice Mayor Michael Kyes and Councilwoman Sarah Gurney cast the no votes.
A first vote for Wilson as mayor stalled in a 2-2 vote, with Wilson and Gurney voting for Wilson. In a third round of voting, Wilson was elected unanimously.
Kyes was re-elected vice mayor on a 3-1 vote, with Slayter in opposition.
Slayter also nominated Shaffer for vice mayor and for chairwoman of the Community Development Agency, but those nominations were not seconded.
Slayter was elected as chairman of the Community Development Agency.
Slayter said that Shaffer, who was elected to the council in 2008, is one of the senior members of the council and deserved to serve as mayor.
The City Council members receive a $300 monthly stipend, plus health, vision and dental benefits.
EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the councilmember who was elected chairman of the Community Development Agency.
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Michael:
“Selected” mayors are a symptom of a larger problem: That the real decisions in small cities are made by a non-elected city manager, then rubber-stamped by a city council who have the gravitas of sock puppets.
But a bumpersticker from a small Texas town puts it more succinctly:
WE DON’T HAVE A TOWN DRUNK. WE ALL TAKE TURNS.
Joyce, “selected” mayors have been common for decades. For most small cities, a city manager administers the city government and the mayor primarily facilitates the legislative process. For this reason it’s been considered wise for the legislators themselves, the councilmembers, to select which one of them is mayor. It’s analagous to selecting the Speaker of the House. Not identical, but similar enough that it’s been considered wise to allow the legislators to select their leader. As cities get bigger, though, they usually adopt a directly elected mayor. Petaluma already has. It will be interesting to see if Santa Rosa’s current charter review process adopts a directly elected mayor.
Local officials are no longer voted in by the citizens?
Good grief! When are they going to do this with Obama? SCARY!