Poway Voters to Decide on Electing Mayor Themselves

Poway City Council members have decided that its time for the city to have a mayor chosen by the people and not by council members. In a 4-1 vote Tuesday night, the council approved placing the issue before voters June 5.

Mayor Don Higginson, the lone negative vote on the measure, said he is 100% for popular election of a mayor but disagrees on the timing of the ballot measure.

Higginson said he favors placing the issue on the November ballot to give everyone a fair try at the mayoral post.

He said that, if the measure is approved in June, talented but relatively unrecognized Poway residents will have little chance of winning against incumbent council members who might run for the mayor’s seat in November.

“It’s a fact that 99% of incumbents are reelected,” Higginson said, calling it an issue of “equality or equity” to delay a vote on the measure until November. If a mayoral election did not take effect until 1992, he said, it would give newcomers a chance at the office, because “it takes a good year and a half to mount a campaign.”

Three council members will be up for reelection in November--Higginson, Carl Kruse and Linda Brannon. Two other council members, Jan Goldsmith and Bob Emery, with two years remaining in their four-year terms, could run for mayor without fear of losing their council seats if they lost a mayoral bid. Kruse has said he will not seek reelection.

Poway council members now annually select a council member to serve as mayor for one year. The same appointive system is used in Del Mar, Encinitas, Lemon Grove and Solana Beach. In the other 18 cities in San Diego County, citizens elect a mayor for two- or four-year terms.

Higginson also pointed out that delaying a vote on the mayoral issue until November would save the city $7,000 in election expenses.