THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:

Sometimes the process of electing a mayor of Costa Mesa is a controversial one, despite the fact that the position doesn’t carry with it much in the way of extra power.

On the council the mayor is just one vote among the five council members, and the agenda is open to input from everyone.

But the mayor does have heightened visibility in the community. Everyone wants the mayor at ribbon cuttings, groundbreakings and grand openings. Plus, he or she has control of the meetings from the center seat on the dais, deciding who gets to speak when.

Those are all duties mayors see coming when they decide to make the time commitment. But sometimes the devil is in the details. Incoming mayors find out quickly that the often long meetings don’t end for them when they bang the closing gavel.

They have to stick around and sign their names on hundreds of pages of contracts, agreements and countless other papers.

“There’s an obligation to sign an awful lot of documents. Everything seems to require the mayor’s signature,” City Manager Allan Roeder said.

Following the first meeting of his new term as mayor Tuesday, Allan Mansoor sat in the front of the auditorium to perform the familiar duty (he was mayor twice before). It often takes about 15 minutes and has been known to cause carpal tunnel syndrome.

“If it’s a letter to a constituent I’ll personally sign that. But if it’s a letter going to Sacramento that will get stuck in a big file, it gets stamped, I’m not going to personally sign that,” Mansoor said.

When he was mayor, Councilman Gary Monahan typically left the signing for the next morning, when he had set office hours. He said he was surprised by how many things he had to give his John Hancock.

“Any kind of a grievance, any kind of an ordinance, any kind of a proclamation: They all need the mayor’s signature. Obviously my last name got shorter and shorter and shorter as the term went on,” Monahan said.

DIFFERENT CHALLENGES CALL FOR DIFFERENT HAIR DOS

Former mayor and longtime public servant Linda Dixon was given a fond farewell at her last council meeting Tuesday.

A video retrospective was presented on the screens at the front of the Council Chambers showing pictures of Dixon over the years, and each passing era in her career was marked by a drastically different hair style.

In fact, if you didn’t know through context that the photos were of Dixon, you might easily mistake the now-short-haired brunette for fellow Councilwoman Katrina Foley, during the time that she had curly, shoulder-length blond hair or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she had a stark part in her darker do.

After watching the video, Dixon joked about the 800-pound elephant in the room.

“As you can tell, I’ve been around a long time and you can see all my different hair colors,” she said.

Dixon was sent off with a standing ovation from the audience and hugs and flowers from her fellow council members.

She has said that she will use the time she saves from relinquishing her position to pursue a psychology degree and spend more time with her family.

LOVE AT FIRST BAIT

Newport Beach Mayor Ed Selich knew he would marry longtime girlfriend Lynn Hackman the first time he saw her cutting squid for bait during a fishing trip.

“She likes to do all the things I like to do and I like to do all the things she likes to do,” Selich said.

Selich proposed to Hackman in front of both of their families last week before Thanksgiving dinner. The mayoral couple are planning a summer wedding in Newport Beach, but the date isn’t firm yet.

Aside from a shared love of boating, fishing and motorcycles, Selich and Hackman both have musical inclinations. Hackman, president of the Pacific Symphony League, is a classically trained violinist. Selich plays guitar.

The two first met in Catalina in 2002 while Selich was on a weekend trip there with his two daughters, but it took a while for the couple to get together. Their first date was a few years later, when Selich invited Hackman to see former Sen. Fred Thompson speak at a Lincoln Club event.

“I don’t know if he just wanted somebody to go with, or maybe it was an excuse to call me,” Hackman said.

The two had talked about marriage and Hackman was expecting a proposal, but she was still surprised when Selich got up and made a speech in front of their families before Thanksgiving dinner.

“We’re both very close to our families and knew we wanted to have them involved on some level,” Hackman said. “It was really neat the way he did it — we gathered everyone together and he went through a chronology of our relationship. By the time he finally asked me, we were both in tears. He did a great job.”

The couple are planning a honeymoon trip to Japan and later to Turkey and Greece.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.