PORT HUENEME : Council to Take Look at Code of Conduct

Port Hueneme may soon have a written code of conduct for its City Council--one that suggests an annual look at who sits in the mayor’s chair.

The “Norms of Operation,” which is scheduled to be voted on at tonight’s City Council meeting, is modeled after similar rules established in other Ventura County cities, City Clerk Karen Jackson said. It includes sections on the operation of council meetings, cordial relations between council members and city staff, and means of handling confidential information.

The policy states that an annual reorganization of the council “may be considered desirable,” and the following item on the council agenda is the selection of a mayor, who serves at the pleasure of the council. Historically, terms for mayor have lasted two years, with total council reorganizations occurring immediately following municipal elections.

Councilman Jonathan Sharkey, an advocate of the code, said his intent in suggesting annual reevaluations was not to cut short the planned two-year term of Toni Young, who was chosen in November, 1994, under the present system.

“My intent was not to kick her out,” he said. “There’s nothing to preclude someone from being mayor for more than one year. . . . Just because nominations for mayor is on the agenda doesn’t mean we’ll have a new mayor.”

Young said she believed that many of the rules in the policy are already in practice and that the annual reorganization was intended to “foster a situation in which term limits might be self-imposed.”

As for tonight’s proposed selection of a mayor, Young said she believed that she would retain the title for another year.

Jackson said the suggestion for a code came from a workshop involving the council and city staff in April and stemmed partly from the number of new faces on the city’s governing body. Three of the five council members, including Sharkey, were elected in November, 1994.