HUNTINGTON BEACH : Green Picked Mayor in Rotation System

Mayor pro Tem Peter M. Green was selected Monday to become the city’s next mayor, as the City Council agreed to adopt a rotational system in choosing its mayor and mayor pro tem.

Under the process, which Green proposed, he, as mayor pro tem, will become the city’s top ceremonial chief at the council’s first meeting in December. The council member with the next most consecutive years of council experience will succeed him as mayor pro tem and move next in line to become mayor. If two members have the same amount of council experience, the one who received the most votes in the last election will become mayor pro tem.

Under the current system, the council each year chooses any two members as mayor and mayor pro tem, a procedure that Green and other critics say has fostered unnecessary political maneuvering and bickering.

The ordinance adopted Monday is similar to a proposal made a year ago by Mayor Thomas J. Mays, who was mayor pro tem at the time. That measure was defeated, 4 to 3. Green’s measure passed because Councilman Jim Silva reversed his position and joined Green, Mays and Councilwoman Grace Winchell in supporting the new procedure.

Silva, explaining his change of view, said he only recently became convinced of the advantages of rotating the posts.

Green said the rotational election will largely eliminate “back-room politics” from the annual mayoral election, enabling council members to concentrate more on conducting the city’s business.

Councilman Don MacAllister, who opposed the change, argued that the new process will undermine the “teamwork and consensus-building” he believes is bred by the current procedure.

“The way it has been, rather than a person being guaranteed of becoming the next mayor or mayor pro tem, there has to be teamwork, and that person has to earn that right,” he said. “This (new system) is not good for teamwork.”

The question of who will be the next mayor pro tem hinges upon the outcome of the next council election in November. Next to Green, Councilman Wes Bannister has the most council experience, but he has said he does not plan to run for reelection.