Push to put mayor post on ballot

The Costa Mesa City Council will consider a proposal to make the mayor an elected position at its July 3 meeting.

Former Mayor Gary Monahan lobbied for the change — which would require voter approval — at Tuesday’s meeting.

“Hopefully the council can put it on the ballot and give Costa Mesa the opportunity to decide if they’d like to directly elect their mayor or not,” Monahan said.

Costa Mesa is a general law city, which calls for the mayor to be appointed to a two-year term by the council. Mayor Allan Mansoor is in his second term as mayor.

Councilwoman Katrina Foley said she’s not sure how having a directly elected mayor would benefit the city.

“How is this going to be better for Costa Mesa families, and how much is it going to cost,” Foley said. “I would think it would be very expensive to put that on the ballot.”

In 2001, while a member of the council, Monahan proposed the same idea and made it an item on the council’s agenda that year, only to have it die when there were not enough votes for the proposal to be placed on a ballot.

Monahan did not return several calls Wednesday afternoon.

The proposal interests Mansoor, who in March proposed the council discuss the possibility of putting the change on the February ballot. At that time, the council rejected the idea.

“It does give a little more clout on regional issues, and it gives us more of a mandate regarding the direction of the city. And so that can be beneficial,” Mansoor said.

He said at this early stage in the game he’s not sure who will seek the position if residents vote they’d like a directly elected mayor.

City Clerk Julie Folsik said she couldn’t be sure how much it would cost the city to put the item on the ballot in February 2008.

“We can consolidate with the county on an election like this,” Folsik said. “But the costs would be higher than they’re going to be, higher than what we would normally be charged because of that fact that this is a special election, even though other cities are involved.”

Last year’s election cost the city $52,000. A ballot measure such as this would cost more, Folsik said.

An elected mayor would be in charge of appointing members to commissions, boards and committees, such as the planning commission. But those appointees would still have to go before the City Council for approval, City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow said.

Currently, any council member can make appointments.

Six cities in Orange County have elected mayors — Anaheim, Garden Grove, Irvine Orange, Santa Ana and Westminster. Irvine Mayor Beth Krom said that there’s an added responsibility that elected mayors owe their constituents.

“I think it puts the responsibility on the mayor because you’re not there by default. People have elected you to that position and presumably you’re slightly more accountable than if you’re simply serving in a rotation,” Krom said.

The change to an elected mayor would likely include extra duties that the mayor would be charged with, which, in turn, could mean more pay for the person, Barlow said.

“I just have to wonder what the motivation is,” Foley said.