Dick Spotswood: Marin could benefit from more independently elected mayors

Some titles held by local public officials are obvious. Even kids know that  the mayor is the elected leader of a town. Other titles are obscure.

The late Al Aramburu, then a member of Marin County’s Board of Supervisors, reminisced about a frequent experience. “When I told people that I’m a supervisor, they often asked, ‘What do you supervise?’ That never happened when I was mayor of Tiburon.”

The elected trustees of California’s 58 counties serve on boards of supervisors. In the old days, when the role of county governments was more limited than now, each county’s governing board had the principal responsibility of serving as road supervisors in their rural districts.

In California, the mayor of the town is selected by two procedures. In larger municipalities with a city charter, the mayor is directly elected at large. That’s true in Marin’s only chartered city, San Rafael, and in Petaluma, one of Sonoma County’s two chartered cities.

Marin’s other municipalities are “general law cities” where state law sets governmental organization. In those bailiwicks, mayors are selected from among the town’s council members to serve for one year. The post is then rotated among the others.

Some cities have well-honored traditions on mayoralty selection. In others, it’s “dog eat dog.” Whoever manages to garner three votes on their five-member council wields the mayor’s gavel for the coming year.

Everyone elected to a city council wants to be mayor during their tenure. They don’t do it for money. They aim for the post because it’s a lifetime distinction. Some, like the elected officials in Tiburon and Belvedere, receive no compensation. In other towns, they earn a few hundred dollars monthly for the part-time gig.

Most who serve on Marin town councils and as mayor will never be in another elected office. This is their time to shine and make their mark.

Chat with past Marin mayors and you’ll find they’ll urge those soon to embark on the coveted job to give serious consideration to what they want to accomplish. Over and above their fundamental duty to monitor finances and staff, a soon-to-be mayor should consider publicly pursuing one big project.

Projects might include leading the charge repairing their town’s deteriorating streets, or perhaps building a much-desired community center. Further afield, one might rally council colleagues in similarly sized coastal communities to redraft the Golden State’s poorly conceived top-down, “one size fits all” housing mandate.

In Marin’s smaller towns, the rotating mayor system works well. The only change I’d suggest is extending the mayor’s term to two years, as in Santa Rosa. Experience has demonstrated that not every council member has the leadership talent needed to become a first-class mayor.

“There’s a real opportunity for a mayor to focus the community’s attention on one clear, tangible priority and move it forward,” said San Rafael Mayor Kate Colin, Marin’s only directly elected mayor. “Effective mayors understand they’re stewards of a longer civic arc — building on past work and setting the stage for what comes next — so the city benefits from progress that feels cumulative rather than episodic.”

Novato, Marin’s second-largest city, was forced by lawyers looking for an easy fee, to dump its longtime practice of all citizens voting for each council member. Now they’re all elected by separate districts. That was a big mistake. Now, there’s not one leader selected by all Novato residents.

If Novato decides to become a charter city, it’ll benefit by copying the election system used by the booming city to its north: Petaluma. The one-time egg “capital of the world” is Sonoma County’s second-largest city with a population similar to Novato’s.

Petaluma Mayor Kevin McDonnell is elected citywide. He presides over six city council members elected by district. This compromise, as it does in San Rafael, applies the best aspects of at-large and district elections. It’s an improved model that Novato should consider.

Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley writes on local issues Sundays and Wednesdays. Email him at spotswood@comcast.net.