Council is Dark; Public Hearings, Organizational Meeting Coming Up

The City Council and City Committees and Commissions are dark this week in honor of Thanksgiving, but big changes are on the horizon.

The Council is scheduled to hold two important public hearings the week after the holiday.

Both hearings pertain to zoning code amendments.

The first is an amendment to modify regulations pertaining to research and development (R&D) land uses.

Equally important is a zoning code amendment to modify regulations pertaining to accessory dwelling units (ADU).

The Dec. 4 and Dec. 11 meetings are the last two meetings of the year. 

On Dec. 11 a significant change will come to the Council when Councilmember Steve Madison rotates into the Vice Mayor position.

The Council deviated from this tradition last December and elected Felicia Williams and Madison to serve one year terms.

Madison previously served as Vice Mayor when Bill Bogaard was the Mayor.

Before voting on the matter, members of the Council agreed to discuss charter reforms regarding the Vice Mayor position at a future meeting.

Nearly one year ago, Madison called on City staff to examine the City Charter as it pertains to the Vice Mayor position days before the City Council’s organizational meeting.

“Recent events with the passing of Councilman Kennedy sort of caused me to go back and look at the Charter and at the code and I would like our staff to be prepared next week to inform us about the selection of a vice mayor and what that would mean for the responsibilities and duties for the person and whether there’s some change to the tradition of one year to two years and I’d also be interested in knowing if there’s anything in the record about the requirements for that position or the qualifications for that position,” Madison said on Dec. 8.

The Vice Mayor runs the City Council meetings in the Mayor’s absence and assumes the Mayorship if the mayor resigns or dies in office.

By tradition, the longest-serving Councilmember who has not served as the Vice Mayor rotates into the position by Council vote at the organizational meeting.

Unless the Charter is changed Jessica Rivas would be next in line to serve as Vice Mayor.