A Brave New City Council in 2011?

Now that the November 2010 Election is behind us, it’s time to look to the future.  I know, I know… you want a break from the onslaught of mail, television, radio, email, and web advertising that inundated us all for the past few months.  You deserve the break, but duty impels me to intrude upon your respite.  In just two short months from today, our current City Council will be faced with the daunting task of filling the empty seat that will be vacated by Don Saylor.

On June 8th, 2010, Mayor Don Saylor ran unopposed for the District 2 seat on the Yolo County Board of Supervisors that is being vacated due to Helen Thomson‘s retirement after 36 years in elected office.  He will take office in early January, thus leaving his seat on the Davis City Council vacant.  That seat’s regular election occurs in June 2012.

The first task that will face the remaining 4 City Council Members (Greenwald, Krovoza, Souza, and Swanson) in January 2011 will probably be the appointment of a new Mayor.  The ordinance that lays out the succession to the Mayor’s seat clearly states that the Mayor Pro Tem should move into that position, but there is an clear exit clause that would allow a majority of members to appoint any of the four of them to become Mayor: “The mayor shall serve in this capacity at the pleasure of the city council.”  While there is no doubt that Mayor Pro Tem Joe Krovoza should serve as Mayor from June 2012 – 2014 (his elected term), I have to wonder whether or not it is would be wise for Joe to begin his term as Mayor this January.

The role of Mayor in Davis is largely ceremonial, but one must not discount the power of being the Presiding Officer at a public meeting.  A strong chair (like Don Saylor), can move meetings along more efficiently and with less internal strife.  And although any Councilmember can place an item on the agenda, the Mayor sets a majority of the agenda in consultation with the City Manager.  Let me be very clear here, presiding at a public meeting of elected officials is a very difficult task.  And due to the high level of public involvement and the current personalities involved, the Davis City Council may be one of the more difficult bodies in the region to run effectively.

Our current system of allowing the highest vote-getter to serve as Mayor Pro Tem for their first two years in office allows a sensible amount of training to become an effective leader.  With all due respect to Mr. Krovoza, I have to wonder if it might not be in the best interests of the community to appoint a more seasoned Councilmember to the Mayor’s seat until  June 2012… or at least until Saylor’s replacement is seated, when the issue could be revisited.  I also have to wonder if, after seeing up close and personal just how demanding the Mayor’s position is (on and off the dais), perhaps Joe would be content with two years of the job as regularly scheduled.

So, that leaves the Council with two options for a short-term appointment as Mayor (based on experience on Council): Greenwald & Souza.  Although Greenwald has previously served as Mayor, it seems like a nod to Souza would be more in line with the wishes of the voters of Davis.  In June of 2008, Souza won 2nd place over Greenwald’s 3rd (in a 3 seat election) by a margin of 914 votes.  Souza only trailed Saylor by 381 votes.  I could spend hours speculating on who would be the most effective and why, but the vote tally speaks for itself.  Full disclosure: I managed Stephen’s campaign back in 2008 and he is a silent partner in The Davis Voice.  However, I have not spoken with him recently about this issue and my thoughts here are mine only… and they may change at any time, especially after watching the few remaining City Council meetings before all this bruhaha will erupt.

OK, so after a new Mayor is selected, the next item of business will be how to fill the empty Council seat.

WHICH METHOD?

There are two alternatives here: election or appointment.

Electing a new Council Member would be time consuming and costly at a time when the City has little to spare, however, it would also be the most democratic option.  The first available opportunity to elect a new Councilmember would be an all-mail ballot on May 3rd, 2011 and would cost somewhere around $200,000 (give or take $50k).  This option would leave the seat vacant for about 4 months.  Personally, I think that is far too long to only have 4 members and far too costly given our current economic situation.

An appointment seems to be the more prudent method of filling a vacant seat, and is not without precedent in the past 20 years.  In the early 1990′s, the DJUSD Trustees appointed Joan Sallee to fill that vacancy left by Stan Forbes when he moved to the City Council.  In the 1980′s when Bob Black vacated his Council seat for the Board of Supervisors, there was also an appointment to fill his seat (anyone know who was appointed?  trivia answers in the comments section, please!).

HOW TO CHOOSE?

I’ve been asking around about a citizen-based appointment process, and Jan Bridge was kind enough to respond with her thoughts on a process modeled after the Sallee appointment.  The following italicized section is from Jan,

I believe this process, with several steps, could be adopted by the Council (perhaps in a public session where Saylor recuses himself because I think Don is not allowed to participate, but I could be wrong on this) to serve us all well. Ed. Note: This process could begin before Saylor vacates his seat, thus shortening the time period that the seat is actually vacant.

(1) Step one – a workshop chaired by the city manager and senior staff in the city is held which outlines how the city works with the Council in the decision making process and clearly explains what the Council responsibilities are and what decisions will face the seated Council between now and June 2012. This workshop should be widely advertised and open to any citizen of Davis.

(2) Step two – ANY CITIZEN eligible to serve on Council can then file a formal application to be considered for appointment. This should be a simple form which may or may not include a series of questions generated by the seated Council to help gather the information you think you may need to make an informed appointment.

(3) Step three – request the League of Women Voters and/or other citizens groups hold public forums at which the applicant panel will make personal introductions; respond to questions; and become known to the public. Council members should not participate as questioners, but can observe and follow as much of this as each individual council member wants to.

(4) Step four – Citizens’ input time – the opportunity for any citizen of Davis to provide recommendations to the Council concerning individual applicants. MOST people will provide positive input concerning the person they think is best – some angry people will send “Don’t chose candidate so&so because of. . . ” but all people will have the opportunity to advise council concerning the selection.

(5) Appointment -  Council can request each applicant make a formal presentation to the Council (I recommend a time limit but that is up to them.) You may or may not include the opportunity for Council members to ask questions of the applicants. Then the appointment process moves forward. The vote of each council member on this process must be a public vote (similar to appointing Commissioners). The school board used a modified Australian ballot – with an exposed grid where the votes were recorded. There were five applicants and on the first round of voting, each board member voted for three people. The one applicant that was not mentioned on any ballot was eliminated from the next round and all board members voted for two applicants. During this round another applicant was not mentioned on any ballot, and was removed from consideration. The board then voted for only one applicant and the field was narrowed to two candidates – there were two or three more rounds of voting and ultimately one applicant received three votes and was selected.

WHO SHOULD STEP FORWARD?

And now, are you still with me?  Lucky you if you made it this far, because now it’s time to put into print all sorts of local whispering about who should fill the vacant City Council seat.  First, though, I’d like to offer a few thoughts.

I think that the appointment should focus on a “caretaker” of the seat.  As all students of Political Science are aware, incumbency carries enormous power in an election.  If the appointee decides to run for election in June 2012, they would have an enormous advantage over any challenger.  I would prefer to appoint an applicant who promises to NOT run for the office in June 2012.  Also, I believe that the best applicants will be those who have previously held local elected office… thus overcoming the huge learning curve of this responsibility AND ensuring that they are palatable to the electorate.

For those reasons, I must dismiss the names of several worthy locals whose names are currently floating around the conversations of local politicos.  Lucas Frerichs, currently a Planning Commissioner, and Daniel Wolk, currently a Social Services Commissioner, will both make fine elected officials in the future, but I would prefer to see them both run a straightforward campaign and win their first office the old-fashioned way.  Vanessa Robinson, recently Chair of the Social Services Commission, also has a bright future but falls into this category.  These outstanding folks also fall into this category: Sheryl Patterson, Anthony Costello, Alan Fernandes, Will Arnold, and Jenifer Segar.

There are several folks who have never run for office, but might consider just serving as caretaker of the seat for 18 months: Mark Braly (Chair, Planning Commission); John Mott-Smith (local Sustainability expert); or Dean Newberry (Chair, Natural Resources Commission).

Another category of folks are current elected officials, namely the Trustees on the  DJUSD Board of Education.  While all of these folks are well qualified to serve on the Council, this move would trigger another appointment (or possible election) for the vacant DJUSD seat… and that would be a huge distraction from the important work that these folks are doing to try and maintain our high quality of education with decreasing enrollment and uncertain funding.

Now, to narrow the field using my above-stated qualifications; there are many former electeds in town who are qualified for the job.  In my mind, three women rise to the top of this field: Jan Bridge, Delaine Eastin and Helen Thomson.  I don’t know if Jan (a former DJUSD Trustee and current Senior Citizen Commissioner) is interested in such a large time commitment. And technically, the voters of Davis have never elected Delaine (former CA Superintendent of Public Instruction) to a local office, though she is now a very active resident of Davis and a proven public servant.

DRAFT Helen Thomson for Davis City Council 2011!

Helen Thomson has served the voters of Davis, and the region, for over 36 years.  She has served us well as a DJUSD Trustee, Yolo County Supervisor, State Assemblywoman, and once again as Yolo County Supervisor.  We, the voters of Davis, know Helen, and we can trust her to serve as a wise voice and diligent leader for our City in these tumultuous fiscal times.  Only one question remains: Is Helen willing to delay her well-earned retirement to serve her fellow citizens for 18 months in a thankless job?  I think she just might say yes, but we need to speak up loud and clear that we want and need her.