Voters in the city of Pinole appear to have rejected Measure D, a proposal to change the way its city government is structured by having the mayor be directly elected.
Currently, the five members of the City Council elect one of them to serve as the mayor for a one-year period. They rotate and are elected with a simple council majority.
The measure would have changed the process to having four councilmembers elected at-large, meaning citywide, as they currently are, and a citywide election for a mayor that would serve a multi-year term.
Current Mayor Devin Murphy supported the idea because he said the rotation process was not always as fair as it seemed, with some councilmembers getting passed over when they thought it was their turn to rotate into the role.
He also said that the one-year limit prevented consistency in leadership.
There were 1,666 voters who rejected the measure and 948 in favor, as of the county clerk-recorder’s update at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Two related measures asked voters what length of term the mayor would serve if the change was approved.
Though likely moot at this point, results showed voters would have strongly favored a two-year term rather than a four-year term, with about 54% voting in favor of the two-year term and about 28% supporting a four-year term.