Piedmont Council Chooses a New Mayor and Alternating Vice Mayors
Piedmont Council Chooses Mayor Teddy Gray King, Divides Term of Vice Mayor
Discussion on the City Council Resulted in a Split Decision
The election of the Mayor by the City Council had proceeded routinely on Monday, December 7, with a 4 – 0 (Rood briefly absent) vote for Teddy Gray King, but then the meeting strayed into unfamiliar territory.
Mayor King suggested deferring the selection of a Vice Mayor to the next meeting to allow the presence of Council member Tim Rood, who had informed King he wanted to be present for the discussion and regretted his temporary absence for business matters.
Discussion led to moving ahead with the selection of the Vice Mayor and Council member Jennifer Cavenaugh was nominated to be Vice Mayor by Council member Betsy Smegal Andersen and seconded by Cavenaugh herself. Then Mayor King nominated Council member Tim Rood to be Vice Mayor, seconded by Council member Conna McCarthy.
Cavenaugh believed in a “tradition” of allowing the candidate with the highest number of votes and most tenure to be selected to become the Vice Mayor with the Vice Mayor rotating upward to become the Mayor two years later. Andersen argued that a long held tradition should be adhered to until the Council considered a different tradition.
King and McCarthy supported Rood as Vice Mayor, with McCarthy pointing out Rood would be the first openly LGBTQ Vice Mayor. King emphasized that she and Rood had essentially been tied for top votes and thought Rood should become the next Vice Mayor, and he had told her he wanted the position. McCarthy noted that Piedmont voters were never informed that their votes would indicate the next Mayor or Vice Mayor.
Assistant City Administrator John Tulloch stated the more recent selection “tradition” had been started in the mid-eighties. Previously, Mayors and Vice Mayors were selected on a different basis.
With two Council members nominated for Vice Mayor, City Attorney Michelle Kenyon informed the Council that the first nominee, Cavenaugh, had to be voted upon first. If her nomination failed the next nominee would be voted upon. After additional Council discussion, the Cavenaugh nomination failed, being supported by only two Council members, Cavenaugh, herself and Andersen.
More discussion was held and a vote was taken on the Rood nomination, which also failed to achieve 3 votes, with only King and McCarthy supporting the nomination. Rood remained absent.
Council member Andersen offered a compromise motion to make Rood Vice Mayor for one year and Cavenaugh Vice Mayor for the second year. This motion was approved by Andersen, King and McCarthy with Cavenaugh voting no and Rood absent.
The tradition of who is mayor and vice mayor has changed over the decades. An older “tradition” held that the Mayor dropped back to become the Vice Mayor.
The City Charter does not prescribe how the Council shall select the Mayor and Vice Mayor. The Council may attempt to solidify an actual policy in the future. Some considerations are: tenure, number of election votes, length of Mayor and Vice Mayor terms, rotating the Mayor to become Vice Mayor, qualifications, dedication, involvement, etc.
The Mayor and Vice Mayor serve at the pleasure of the Council and after setting the matter on an agenda, the Council can change their selections.
Editors Note: PCA welcomes newly elected Mayor Teddy King and alternating Tim Rood and Jen Cavenaugh as Vice Mayors. The positions are voluntary with no compensation. Piedmont is fortunate to have well educated and caring individuals to serve our city.
The four decade protocol used by City Council to elect the mayor was followed. Then unexpectedly the election of the vice-mayor which uses the same protocol was not applied. This is the first occurrence of this break in protocol in nearly forty years. Better would have been to schedule at the next meeting a formal discussion and vote on the method that Council chooses Mayor and Vice-Mayor. And then the vote for vice-mayor should be taken.
Why was the magnanimous offer to Councilmember Rood not presented during the selection of mayor? If votes don’t matter and precedent was to be set, wouldn’t sharing the term of mayor be the honorable thing to do? In light of his service and achievement, it’s seems almost a slight to select him vice mayor. Not an auspicious start to the new Council.
On a positive note, the public comment clock was reset to three minutes. Except for SRO crowds, the tradition had always been 3 minutes. Maybe that’s one tradition the new Council can keep.