Second try at mayor position ballot measure fails

The San Bernardino City Council has failed in an attempt put an amendment before the voters to eliminate the position of elected mayor.  It appeared that the measure would pass when Councilman Ben Reynoso changed his vote to support putting the measure on the ballot after abstaining in a previous vote.  Reynoso stated that he would vote in favor despite his misgivings about the intentions of those behind the measure on the council because the mayor had vetoed the previous measure after it passed 4-2 with his abstention.

Councilmember Fred Shorett a long-time opponent of Mayor Valdivia elicited a few chuckles from the audience when he stated that the “measure before us has nothing to do with the personalities that are currently in office and that it was all about “good governance”.

Councilwoman Ibarra spoke against the measure noting that it will be the choice of the city council in the future who to put in the mayor position, because the position will still exist and the people’s voice in the matter will be forever silenced.  She also made clear that she believes firmly that this effort is all about a subset of the council and community that dislike the current mayor and that was a misguided reason to eliminate the position and the communities voice in selecting a mayor.  “This is a political maneuver to get rid of this current mayor,” she said.  She went on to add that this effort showed that “none of the candidates lined up to run against him are good enough to take him out, that’s what they’re saying….”

Councilmembers Shorett, Sanchez, Calvin and Reynoso voted in favor to place the measure on the ballot to remove the position of mayor, members Alexander and Ibarra opposed and Figueroa abstained dooming the measure to defeat. In previous meetings, Alexander and Ibarra both noted that the voters in San Bernardino had an opportunity before 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.

The cost of adding the charter amendment to the ballot would have been at least $50,000. 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.

The measure is now dead for at least this election cycle.