Changes to Mayor Position Unlikely – Despite Councilmembers Recent Comments

At the March 17 meeting of the San Bernardino City Council, councilmember Fred Shorett posited the idea of getting rid of the position of mayor.  Shorett insisted that it had nothing to do with who the current mayor was but, intimated that the mayor’s position as constructed under the charter was anachronistic and flawed and perhaps should end.

The idea of restricting or removing the mayor from the city government structure is not a new one.  According to multiple sources close to San Bernardino government and previous elected officials can recall at least two other instances when the idea was floated; once when a former councilman during the Judith Valles years suggested the mayor position should be part-time and then again later during the charter amendment discussions, the idea of eliminating the Mayor position altogether was also discussed.  Neither idea produced any tangible change.

Any restriction or change of the mayor’s position as currently designed would require a change in the City Charter.  A majority of the council would have to agree to place the changes to the charter as proposed on the ballot and then 50 percent plus one of the residents would have to approve the change.  The next general election ballot it would be eligible for is the same time the current Mayor is up for re-election in June, 2022.

According to election law as previously established in similar cases, if the mayor were re-elected (Valdivia) under the circumstance when such a charter change was also on the ballot – the mayor would serve 4 years anyway if re-elected because he would have been elected under the former charter and no changes could take effect until after his term.

According to constitutional law scholar Ralph Rossum, “If they vote to elect the mayor and also make changes to the charter on the same ballot, my sense would be that the mayor who is elected, whoever it be, would serve under the precepts of the previous charter and then the next election those changes would be valid – even the elimination of a Mayor completely, but not until then.