City Attorney Asked to Solve Case of the Reluctant Mayor

All Michael J. Messina wanted to do was be mayor for a day.

But it appears that Messina will have to serve in the city’s top post for at least several weeks.

Messina’s problem with accepting a position most other council members covet is that a promotion at the grocery chain where he works will keep him out of town more often.

So when his turn came to become mayor under a rotation system, Messina hoped that he could accept the post last Monday, resign that same day and resume his normal council duties.

But with the city attorney out of town, and the other members unsure of what procedure to follow, Messina must keep the post until the proper order of succession can be determined.

“If I can’t do a job 100%, I really don’t want to do the job,” Messina said in an interview.

This is the second time that the council has had to grapple with an attempted resignation by Messina.

The Council Deadlocked on Succession

Several months ago he wanted off the council entirely because of his promotion to real estate manager in Nevada and Arizona for Lucky Stores. The only hitch was that he planned to resign only if the council would accept his wife as his successor. After a heated August meeting with more than 100 people in the audience, the council deadlocked 2 to 2 over whether to accept the conditional resignation.

Messina abstained from voting, stayed on the council and decided that he would serve out his term, which expires in December.

“They made a mountain out of a molehill,” said Barbara Messina.

This time council members want to help Messina resign, but they want to make sure that it’s done right.

“I accept what he does,” said Councilman Talmage Burke. “I don’t have any problem with it. These are personal choices.”

A 1984 City Charter amendment mandates that the post of mayor be rotated among the five council members every nine months. The council agreed that Vice Mayor J. Parker Williams should be elevated to mayor. But they aren’t sure how to pick a new vice mayor.

Asked to Avoid Rotation

Shortly before the Monday meeting, Messina contacted the city manager and asked if he could stay on the council without ever taking his turn as mayor.

But City Manager Kevin Murphy said that the city attorney recommended that Messina accept the position and then resign. Under that plan, Williams would then serve 18 months as mayor, including his normal nine-month rotation. The suggestion from the city attorney, Murphy said, was that the council elect a new vice mayor by majority vote.

The council members, however, asked Messina to keep the mayor’s job until the city attorney returns and they can discuss the proper procedure with him. Their main concern, they said, is that the 1984 charter amendment does not address how a new vice mayor should be selected when a vacancy occurs in the top job.

Any action the council takes will set a precedent for future cases, Murphy said.

“It’s a screwed up system,” Messina said.

Messina still hopes that he can resign as mayor at the next regular meeting on March 17 and resume his job as a regular councilman.

And he didn’t really want to be mayor anyway, he said. He served a term as mayor in 1981 and “didn’t particularly enjoy it” because he does not like to give speeches or be “at 100 places.”