MISSION VIEJO : Keena Selected as City’s Second Mayor

In his last official act as mayor, William S. Craycraft called for the bitterly divided City Council on Monday to heal its wounds and “bridge the political abyss that divides us.”

In the mayor’s State of the City report, Craycraft told fellow council members that Mission Viejo residents “deserve better than the acrimonious debate regularly played out on this dais.”

Yet minutes later, the council split along familiar 3-2 faction lines as Craycraft was denied a second term as mayor. Instead, the council elected former Mayor Pro Tem Christian W. Keena as the city’s new political leader.

Keena is the second mayor to hold the gavel in the 20-month history of the young city.

In the past year, the council has splintered into two opposing forces, with Keena and council members Norman P. Murray and Victoria C. Jaffe in the majority. The threesome is consistently at odds with Councilman Robert A. Curtis over issues involving the Mission Viejo Co., a development firm that has contributed heavily to a recall campaign trying to unseat Curtis.

Hampered by his position as a Curtis ally, Craycraft was often put in the uncomfortable position of mediating the often venomous and long-winded arguments between the two political camps.

Monday night, Curtis nominated Craycraft for a second term, claiming that Craycraft “has been short-shrifted in his first year” by the power struggle in the council.

But Jaffe disagreed, saying the council should follow the general procedure of electing the mayor pro tem. Keena, who served as president of the local Community Services District that helped run the city before incorporation, “will serve Mission Viejo well,” Jaffe said.

In what turned out to be his farewell address as mayor, Craycraft praised the city’s strong financial standing, pointing to $16.5 million in cash reserves held in city coffers.

In the past year, Mission Viejo has bolstered police and fire services, Craycraft said, while enhancing the city’s social and recreational life by opening the 13,000-square-foot Oso Viejo Community and Senior Center in June.