Council Names Lopez Mayor Pro Tem in Split Vote

Councilman Lou Lopez will keep his ceremonial post as mayor pro tem for another year, a development that led Councilman Bob Zemel, who has the same seniority as Lopez on the five-member panel, to allege that he was snubbed by the council majority.

Zemel said he is not disappointed that he failed to be chosen for the post.

“But what I’m disappointed in,” he said, “is that Anaheim takes a giant step backward with petty politics rearing its ugly head.”

Councilwoman Shirley McCracken nominated Lopez, who has served the past year as mayor pro tem, and Councilman Tom Tait proposed Zemel’s name for the spot. Tait’s motion to select Zemel failed, however, and the council voted 3 to 2 in favor of Lopez.

A council majority on Dec. 3 voted to select the mayor pro tem by vote, breaking from the custom of rotating the position among members based on seniority. Tait and Zemel voted against that action.

In other action this week, the council voted 3 to 2 to appoint Irv Pickler, a former councilman, to a four-year stint on the Orange County Water District board, District 9, a post that Zemel held for the past two years.

Tait and Zemel opposed the action, however, with Tait saying that the water board’s Anaheim representative should be an elected official.

But Mayor Tom Daly said that the city received applications from six residents interested in serving on the board and that choosing a resident has been the city’s practice in the past.