The primary item of interest at the Oct. 21 meeting of the Windsor Town Council centered around questions relating to changes the town is facing in the wake of its first elections since the town switched to districts and an at-large mayor.
Town attorney Jose Sanchez had been tasked with answering four questions raised by councilmember and constituents as the election loomed closer.
1. Does the transition to a district-based election system with an elected mayor change the appointment process for the town’s boards and commissions?
This proved to be a slightly challenging one to answer, because the legal answer and the practical answer were not the same.
Legally speaking the answer is yes. According to Government Code 40605 when a jurisdiction has a directly elected mayor, “the Mayor, with the approval of the City Council, shall make all appointments to boards, commissions, and committees unless otherwise specifically provided by statute.”
Thus, all appointments going forward could legally only be made by the mayor, and the selection would then be approved (or not) by the council. According to Sanchez, this is supported by rulings from the state attorney general’s office.
However, Sanchez allowed that there are many municipalities who simply ignore the statute, and as of yet, there haven’t many legal or official challenges made. However, not following the statute would leave the town legally vulnerable.
The consensus among all the council members is that they like the current system, but the fact it is no longer legally supportable is concerning. One suggestion from Sanchez that might represent a middle ground would be having each member make a recommendation to the mayor who would then make the actual nomination, which would fit the legal requirements. However, it was clear the council was still uncomfortable with the fact that a mayor could potentially decline to bring a choice forward, with no recourse for the recommending member.
2. What happens if a currently seated at-large council member with a term expiring in 2022 is elected as mayor?
According to Sanchez, if a currently seated councilmember with a term not expiring until 2022 runs for elected mayor in 2020 and is successful, their council seat becomes vacant and may be filled pursuant to California Government Code section 36512(b), which requires the council, within 60 days from the commencement of the vacancy, to either fill the vacancy by appointment or call a special election to fill the vacancy. The seat would remain an at-large seat for the remainder of the term; until the 2022 election.
While most councilmembers, and residents, favor the vacancy being filled by democratic election, there is a very real concern with the cost of a special election. Town Clerk Maria De La O had talked with the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters, and the estimated cost of a mail-in, ballot-only election is $65,496 to $106,431 for one office or measure. Should additional offices or measures be added it will increase the cost by double for each addition.
If an appointment is made to fill the vacancy, there are certain requirements the council meet to do so. Candidates must be eligible to hold the office they are seeking (in the case of district elections, that includes that they live in the district in question), and while there is no formal application process required by the state, should the council do interviews or the like, the state requires they be done in the open session of a duly-noticed board meeting.
According to government code, a person appointed in the first half of a term of office with at least 130 days left until the next general municipal election shall hold office until the next general municipal election and thereafter until the person elected to fill the vacancy has been qualified. A person appointed in the second half of a term of office, or in the first half of a term of office with less than one 130 days left until the next general municipal election, shall hold office for the unexpired term of the former incumbent.
There are some limits to the appointment power. The council cannot fill a vacant seat by appointment if that appointment would result in a majority of the council having been appointed, not elected. In that case, the vacancy must be filled by an election.
4. What powers does a directly elected mayor have?
An elected mayor “is a member of the city council and has all the powers and duties of a member of the city council,” according to government code. In other words, other than the committee appointments discuss ed in question 1, the duties of an elected mayor are not significantly different than an appointed one.
“There is ability for the directly elected mayor to have a higher salary, but it has to be by ordinance and come in front of the council or put out to the electorate … The other thing is mayors can sign contract and agreements, though they still have to be approved by the council,” Sanchez said, adding that though the mayor is the signatory, the role is more ceremonial. “We do have norms where mayor chairs meetings and things like that, that stays the same.”
While the council seemed generally in agreement with this information, Vice Mayor Esther Lemus asked for a future discussion on term limits for the mayor.
