City’s mayor rotation changed

Agoura Hills will change the way the city’s mayors rotate into power, but the new process will take four years to put into effect.

Since incorporation in 1982, Agoura Hills has rotated its mayor based on the city council member in line who received the most votes during their election. Calabasas and Westlake Village follow a similar procedure.

But the process meant that the new council members often didn’t get to become mayor until some incumbents had served more than once.

In December, City Councilmember John Edelston wanted to postpone the selection of Mayor Pro Tem Dan Kuperberg in order to give the newly seated council an opportunity to look at how the selection process for mayor is handled.

Although Edelston’s motion was defeated at the time, his attempt to introduce a simple mayoral rotation passed muster at last week’s city council meeting on a 3-2 vote. Kuperberg and Councilmember Harry Schwarz voted against the plan.

Edelston believes the previous selection process wasn’t fair and gave an inordinate advantage to incumbents, who typically garner more votes than the new council members.

Denis Weber earned the mayor’s post this year based on the number of votes he earned in the 2001 election. And because he was the top vote-getter in this year’s election, he will serve as mayor again before new council members William Koehler and Harry Schwarz have a chance to take the seat for the first time.

While Edelston claims the old selection process favored the incumbents, Kuperberg says it’s the voters, not the politicians, who must be respected.

“I think this (new) plan will disenfranchise voters,” Kuperberg said.

“One person has to wait a year versus 3,000 people (who voted),” Kuperberg added. “The system is working and has been working, and it’s not perfect, but it’s a pretty good system.”

Schwarz said if the mayor’s job was just ceremonial, a simple rotation would make sense. “(But) because there’s importance in it . . . voters should count,” he said.

According to Koehler, however, “It’s like fighting over who’s going to get the biggest piece of dessert after dinner . . . Mostly, (the mayor’s position) is ceremonial.

“To allow a mayor to recycle before the other successful council members is inequitable,” Koehler said.

Edelston reportedly is the first city council member to question the mayor’s rotation. “The mayor should serve and go to the end of the line,” he said.

The decision to wait until 2010 before the change would take effect was based on the time-honored government tradition of public agencies not making changes that affect a sitting board.

Kuperberg said there’s been only one time in the city’s 23year history in which a council member had to wait until their sixth year to serve as mayor. Each term lasts four years and Jeff Reinhardt, who retired from the city council this year, had to wait until his second year in his second term before he was named mayor.

Ironically, Schwarz will not be eligible to serve as mayor until his sixth year on the dais, but voted against the change anyway.