Council says let the voters decide on Mayoral position

On Tuesday, the San Bernardino City Council voted 4-2 in favor of placing a measure on the June ballot that would eliminate the position of Mayor.  This move comes after the council has taken several other actions aimed at making the mayor position unattractive and impotent in previous meetings.  The most recent move was taken after previously voting to cut the mayor’s salary by fifty percent.

Councilmembers Shorett, Figueroa, Sanchez, and Calvin voted in favor to place the measure on the ballot to remove the position of mayor, members Alexander and Ibarra opposed and Reynoso abstained from voting.  Mayor Valdivia has come under constant fire from the members of the council who voted to get rid of the mayor position in the city government structure, and even sometimes from those that voted to keep the position in place.

Alexander and Ibarra both noted that the voters in San Bernardino had an opportunity previously to rid the city of the elected mayor position on the previous charter reform process just a few years ago and decided not to do so.

San Bernardino is one of very few cities in California that still runs as a ward system with most cities opting to hold at large elections for city council positions.  The ward system has been criticized by many advocates of good governance as a poor way to run a city, because in the ward system councilmembers are highly motivated to only care about and fight for their particular piece of the city since only those people will vote for or against them.

“Research shows that there is essentially no difference between the efficiency of governments that have a strong mayor, weak mayor, elected mayor or appointed,” said Dr. Adrian Moore Vice-President of the Reason Foundation, and an expert in governance.  “Often in at-large systems certain areas of the city can be neglected by everyone and the ward system does encourage elected officials only caring about their own area.  Local governments tend to be responsible when many people being engaged in the process and hold officials accountable, in cities with low voter turnout and apathetic populations the results are generally poor.”

Treasure Ortiz, a previously failed candidate for various city positions, who has announced a bid for mayor in San Bernardino, nevertheless curiously spoke in favor of getting rid of the position she is seeking.  Voters may ask themselves how serious a candidate is in seeking an office that they want to see eliminated. Meanwhile, another candidate, formerly recalled and removed from office San Bernardino City Attorney Jim Penman, spoke in favor of keeping the office he is running for, but stopped short of asking that the full salary be restored.

If the elected position of mayor is discarded, there still will be a mayor, but it would be a position to be chosen by the council amongst themselves giving them the power to decide who is mayor, not the voters.