Mayoral rotation examined

Term limits will result in a new mayor and three new members of the Millbrae City Council in 2007, leading city officials to reexamine the way the mayoral position is rotated.

Next year, three councilmembers - Vice Mayor Marc Hershman and councilwomen Linda Larson and Nadia Holober - will be termed out. That leaves Councilwoman Gina Papan, elected in 2005, as the scheduled 2007 mayor. Some council members were concerned that the new mayor, in addition to a fairly new council, would be running the city without having a chance to serve as vice mayor. Others said the rotation won't be a detriment.

"This is a product of term limits. ... We'll have new blood. I hope that we'll have new energy, new enthusiasm and new ideas, but we lose experience," said Hershman.

The problem is the current rotation makes Papan, with no mayoral or vice mayoral experience, the mayor in 2007. The policy does not allow the council to discuss the option of putting a more experienced person in the role. If the council added flexibility to its policy, for example, Mayor Robert Gottschalk could be made mayor and Papan vice mayor in 2007, giving her one year of experience.

The mayor is not elected separately from the other members of the City Council but instead - as in most cities in San Mateo County - the position rotates throughout those sitting on the panel. The system stopped running as smoothly in Millbrae now that term limits are starting to kick people off the council. In 1997, Measure F limited councilmembers to two consecutive four-year terms. Three councilmembers will be termed out as of the next election.

The council discussed changing the limits earlier this year. In the end, the majority of the council said it was a good discussion brought up at the wrong time. Larson expressed concern at Tuesday night's meeting about the upcoming relatively new council.

" ... We will have a fairly young in years experience council person entering the mayoral experience with no benefit of serving as vice mayor," she said.

Papan agreed that Larson brought up some interesting points.

"Continuity is important to the city, and as such the protocol should be reevaluated," she said.

Term limits actually resulted in Mayor Robert Gottschalk assuming the role of mayor without serving as vice mayor. Dan Quigg, last year's vice mayor, was termed out moving Gottschalk up to mayor.

While Gottschalk agreed the rotation system could possibly be improved, he didn't believe holding the vice mayor position is a necessary step before becoming mayor. The vice mayor only has three major responsibilities: planning the commissioners and employee appreciation events, and standing in for the mayor when requested.

It's nice to have predictability in who will become mayor, he said. He added, the current rotation may be the fairest way to decide who becomes mayor.

Revisiting the roles of councilmembers and the city manager was also suggested. In December, Larson will request both items be discussed.

Each city chooses its mayor differently. San Bruno citizens elect a mayor every two years separately from other council positions. South San Francisco follows a strict rotation based on seniority and the number of votes acquired when elected. San Carlos adopted a policy two years ago stating the positions are solely on the council's vote instead of seniority or currently held rank.