Barbara Delgleize sworn in as Huntington Beach’s mayor pro tem

Huntington Beach has a new mayor pro tem, after Tito Ortiz suddenly resigned from the City Council on Tuesday night.

The council appointed Barbara Delgleize to the position by a unanimous 6-0 vote during a special meeting Wednesday night.

Councilman Erik Peterson made the motion, which was seconded by Councilman Dan Kalmick and quickly approved to conclude the 30-minute meeting.

The council set aside Resolution 6320, which states that the new mayor pro tem should not have served as mayor within the last four years. Delgleize, first elected to the City Council in 2014, served as Surf City’s mayor in 2017.

Peterson said he believed that another year of experience would help Kalmick and Natalie Moser, who were elected last November along with Ortiz, before they stepped into the mayor pro tem role.

“Ms. Delgleize has had the experience, and we just get a little more experience in our meetings coming up,” Peterson said. “I think she’d be a good fill-in and buffer between [Mayor Kim Carr] leaving and the newer ones coming, to get that extra year of mentorship.”

Delgleize, 69, also served as a member and chair of the Huntington Beach Planning Commission from 2008-2012. She works professionally as a real estate agent and has lived in Huntington Beach since 1974.

The mayor pro tem, essentially a “vice mayor,” assumes the mayor’s duties in his or her absence.

“I’m very fond of our mayor and I think she does a lot of great things,” Delgleize said after being sworn in. “I know I could be right there with her or assist in any way. I get along with my fellow City Council members. I do believe, especially this year, we’ve accomplished already a lot of really great things ... and I look forward to the rest of the year.”

The council will stay at six members until someone is appointed in the coming weeks to fill Ortiz’s vacated seat, Huntington Beach spokeswoman Catherine Jun said. There will be no special election, per the city charter.

Political positioning for that seventh spot had already started Wednesday night. Several speakers during public comment at the special meeting said they supported former Finance Commissioner Gracey Van Der Mark for the position.

Van Der Mark finished fourth in last November’s City Council election, with the top three of Ortiz, Kalmick and Moser being elected. She had run together with Ortiz and Casey McKeon on an unofficial conservative ticket and was subsequently appointed as a planning commissioner by Ortiz.

Two speakers also advocated for longtime community activist Oscar Rodriguez, who finished fifth in the 2020 City Council election. Rodriguez also was appointed as a planning commissioner, by Moser.

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