{"id":12719,"date":"2013-04-23T23:34:38","date_gmt":"2013-04-24T06:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/?p=12719"},"modified":"2013-04-24T17:14:57","modified_gmt":"2013-04-25T00:14:57","slug":"walsh-unanimously-elected-as-mayor-harabedian-named-mayor-pro-tem-in-contentious-4-1-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/?p=12719","title":{"rendered":"Walsh Unanimously Elected as Mayor, Harabedian Named Mayor Pro Tem in Contentious 4-1 Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New Mayor Nancy Walsh cuts the cake to celebrate the City Council reorganization, click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

Posted 4\/23\/13 –<\/em> After a lengthy discussion about the contents of a Request for Proposal to be issued for a Water Rate Study the City will be conducting, and a shorter discussion about the Council\u2019s Strategic Plan, and presentations to outgoing Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Walsh and Mayor Josh Moran, complete with a brief goodbye speech by the Mayor, the City Council elected to follow tradition and elected (unanimously) Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Walsh to be Mayor for the next year.\u00a0 I\u2019ll post video of the presentations, the Mayor\u2019s goodbye speech and the election of the new Mayor later this week.<\/p>\n

But the next twenty minutes or so got a little more interesting, as there was deep division among the Council members regarding the selection of Mayor Pro Tem.\u00a0 Two residents got up to suggest the Council choose Council Member Chris Koerber to be Mayor Pro Tem.\u00a0 The newly retired Mayor then read a letter he had received from a resident encouraging the Council to follow tradition in its selection of the new Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem, the first tradition being the elevation of the Mayor Pro Tem to the Mayor seat, and the second being the awarding of the Mayor Pro Tem position to the top vote getter in the last election.\u00a0 The resident pointed out that in recent years when the Mayoral tradition had been broken, there was a great division in the council and in the town, and the resident did not want to see a divided Council going into a year when the City is expected to face severe financial difficulty. Council member Moran seconded the sentiment of the letter writer regarding the desire to follow tradition and stated that he too, did not want to see a division like was seen when then Council member Joe Mosca was passed over by the majority on the Council.\u00a0 However, he disagreed with her assessment that Chris Koerber had been the highest vote getter, noting that Koerber\u2019s race was a special election, not the regular election.\u00a0 He said that since Council member John Harabedian had received the most votes in the regular election, he felt Councilman Harabedian should be elected Mayor Pro Tem.\u00a0 He moved that John Harabedian should be named Mayor Pro Tem, which new Mayor Nancy Walsh seconded.<\/p>\n

Council member John Capoccia stated that he felt that Councilman Koerber had received the most votes, and he nominated Councilman Koerber to be Mayor, which Koerber seconded.<\/p>\n

Councilman Harabedian then spoke, starting out by saying that \u201cthis is somewhat confusing to me, and it\u2019s disappointing, and I don\u2019t think this is the finest hour for two of my Council members, but I\u2019m not surprised at this point to be honest with you.\u201d\u00a0 He continued, pointing out that because there were more people running in his election, it was natural that the vote was going to be split farther, leaving the top vote getter in that election with fewer votes.\u00a0 He also pointed out that the seat which Koerber was filling, that of Joe Mosca, had already filled the Mayor position and that to re-seat the person in that seat would be \u201cbucking a tradition here in Sierra Madre\u201d of only allowing a Council member to be Mayor once during their four year term.\u00a0 He pointed out that \u201cit\u2019s unfair to our new Mayor and our outgoing Mayor to put them in this position, it should have been a night to celebrate their service\u2026instead we have to talk through this like we\u2019re children.\u201d\u00a0 He went on to add that if Council members Koerber and Capoccia were not aware that Mosca had been Mayor during the term that Koerber is filling than \u201call\u2019s fair\u201d but that if they were aware then \u201cI believe this is purely a opportune power grab, that\u2019s all it is, and \u2026this has severely scarred my perception of you two.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council member Moran supported Harabedian, pointing out that if there were a regular election in the future with seven candidates diluting the vote, at the same time as a special election with only two candidates, \u201cyou can\u2019t give the special election candidate an advantage over the regular election candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council member Koerber then thanked the folks that had spoken up for him for their kind words, adding that he was humbled.\u00a0 He then quoted Winston Churchill \u201cThe truth is incontrovertible.\u00a0 Malice may attack it, and ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council member Harabedian asked \u201cfor the record\u201d if he (Koerber) was aware that Joe Mosca had served as Mayor, and Council member Koerber pointed out that \u201cthe record shows that we are not in court, Counselor, the record states 1403 votes, Counselor, I\u2019m sorry you had less.\u201d Eventually, Council member\u2019s Capoccia\u2019s motion to name Council member Koerber as Mayor Pro Tem was defeated 3 to 2, and Josh Moran\u2019s motion for Harabedian to be Mayor Pro Tem was passed 4 to 1.<\/p>\n