Voters in the city of Pinole will decide Tuesday whether the city should change the way it selects its mayor by directly electing the position to a term of either two or four years.
Currently, the five city councilmembers select the mayor through a majority vote, and that councilmember serves in the position for one year. Councilmembers rotate each year, with one taking on mayoral duties.
Three related ballot measures ask voters if the method should change to a direct election by voters for a mayor that would serve a term of multiple years.
Measure D asks if the mayor should be directly elected by the people.
Measure E asks if that mayoral position should have a 2-year term, and Measure F asks if that term should instead be 4 years.
All five city councilmembers are currently elected at-large, meaning citywide rather than using district boundaries for voters. If Measure D is approved, voters would select four city councilmembers. The mayor would serve as the fifth for the length of their mayoral term.
Current Mayor Devin Murphy said he supported the idea in part because the idea of rotating might seem fair, but politics had prevented some people from serving when they thought it was their turn.
He also wrote on Facebook that the one-year terms led to a lack of consistency.
“Each year can bring a different leadership style, different priorities, and different approaches to governance,” he wrote on May 16. “From both a policy and operational perspective, that inconsistency can slow progress and make it harder to build momentum on the issues residents care about most.”
The county’s ballot argument opposed to the change was written by local residents including Ann Moriarty, who is a retired middle school teacher, and John Castro, a high school administrator.
They said the current method led to greater cooperation among city councilmembers who had to reach compromises. They also questioned the pay rate for the new mayoral position.
“They work together to serve our community,” the group of residents wrote in their message to voters. “Why consolidate that power into one person? The Council majority commented that the salary discussion would occur ‘later’ and Council has the power to raise that salary at any time.”
They called the proposal a “solution to a problem that does not exist.”
If Measure D is approved, the length of the term will be decided based on which of the other two measures receive the most votes in favor.