BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Palo Alto City Council voted last night (Feb. 5) to pursue a November ballot measure asking voters if they want to directly elect their mayor.
That would change a longstanding tradition of having council members pick a mayor among themselves at their first meeting in January each year.
A directly elected mayor would hold office for two years or four years.
Supporters on council said a directly elected mayor would give Palo Alto more influence and another chance for voters to weigh in.
“Getting that continuity, getting that regional clout, letting our residents choose instead of us is something that I would support,” Councilwoman Vicki Veenker said.
“Voters making decisions is almost always a good thing,” Councilman Greg Tanaka said.
A committee will work on the details, like term limits and term lengths, and bring a ballot measure for the full council to approve by June.
A ballot measure would cost around $200,000, City Manager Ed Shikada said.
Council voted 5-2, with council members Pat Burt and Ed Lauing voting no.
“Our system has served us well enough,” Burt said.
A longer term would leave less opportunity for new mayors, Lauing said.
Some good candidates might lose a race for mayor and have to wait for another election to run for council, he said.
“There’s some collateral damage,” Lauing said.
The city’s process of having the vice mayor train to be the mayor has led to good mayors, Lauing said.
Councilwoman Lydia Kou said she would only support a ballot measure if there’s a requirement that mayors have some experience on council before they run.
Mayor Greer Stone said other mayors, even from smaller cities, were surprised to learn that he was only in office for one year at a national conference of mayors. They asked him how Palo Alto’s mayor sees a policy through or builds relationships, he said.
A longer term would allow the mayor to get federal funding for the city, or “bring home the bacon,” Stone said.
Stone clarified that the role of the mayor would stay the same.
The mayor sets the weekly agenda, runs meetings, assigns council members to committees and makes speeches on behalf of the city.
The more I hear about Lydia Kou the more I like her.
That said, the every-popular Patrick Burt will be PA mayor into eternity if voters directly elect.
If you think Pat Burt is “every popular”, you don’t live in Palo Alto. He’s the driving force for removing natural gas from homes and forcing people to rely on unreliable electricity. This idea is so unpopular, he won’t be running again.