Encinitas council debates deputy mayor’s job: Teresa Barth takes …

North County Times – Escondido,CA,USA
ENCINITAS — The new City Council made a turbulent debut Wednesday
with debate and dissension over who should serve as Encinitas’
deputy mayor. …

ENCINITAS — The new City Council made a turbulent debut Wednesday with debate and dissension over who should serve as Encinitas’ deputy mayor.

The discussion ended with a 3-2 vote to nominate James Bond as mayor and Jerome Stocks as deputy mayor.

In Encinitas, the mayor presides over ceremonial events and sets City Council agendas in collaboration with the city manager. The mayor also nominates council members to serve on regional panels.

Before a prolonged debate began in the crowded council chambers, two-term Councilwoman Christy Guerin stepped down and Teresa Barth of Cardiff took the oath of office. Guerin did not run for re-election.

In her first official act, Barth nominated Bond for the mayor’s job and Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan for deputy mayor.

Barth said that her nomination of Houlihan was “a correction for a prior oversight in 2004,” when Houlihan, the top vote-getter in that year’s election, was passed over for the position.

In Encinitas, the deputy mayor generally is next in line for the mayor’s post, which rotates every year among council members.

“This is a new council,” Barth said, “one that respects not only each other, but the citizens of Encinitas.”

Two of Houlihan’s supporters, Candace Kamada and Bruce Ehlers, told the council that nominations for mayor and deputy mayor should reflect the total votes the politicians had received.

That kind of process, Ehlers said, takes “the petty politics out of this and respects the vote of the people.”

Councilman Dan Dalager said he agreed with Ehlers, and that he liked the idea of the mayor being seated based upon numbers of votes.

“It takes the Machiavellian intrigue out of it,” he said.

But it was on Dalager’s motion — with support from Bond and Stocks — that Bond won the nomination for mayor and Stocks won the nomination for deputy mayor.

“We make hundreds of decisions a year, this is one of them,” Stocks said after the vote.

He said that no one votes for a council candidate with the intention of positioning that candidate favorably for a nomination as mayor.

“I respect the system we have,” Stocks said. “It’s very clear cut.”

Houlihan said she supported Bond as mayor, but felt the voters’ will would be better served if she were appointed deputy mayor.

“(In 2005) I could have been selected as deputy mayor,” Houlihan said. “I did not agree with being passed over, but I certainly didn’t stamp my feet.”

Bond, the longest-serving council member, was mayor in 1996 and again in 1999 and 2000.

Once, during his 14 years on the council, he proposed a process to formalize the mayor’s rotation, which was approved but later rescinded, he said.

“It would be good for us to take a look at how to make this procedure make more sense,” Bond said.

City Attorney Glenn Sabine told the council that Encinitas has no bylaws regarding such a procedure.

“It’s majority rule for procedural aspects tonight,” he said.