Voters will not elect mayor

Costa Mesa voters won’t see a ballot measure next year on whether they should directly elect the mayor.

Instead, the City Council’s five members will continue to choose among themselves who will wield the gavel.

Former Mayor Gary Monahan, who was termed out in 2006 but is eligible to run for council again in 2008, asked the council in June to put the issue of a directly elected mayor on the ballot.

“Give the voters of Costa Mesa an opportunity to decide if they would actually like to choose the figurehead of the city,” Monahan urged.

Current Mayor Allan Mansoor and Councilwoman Wendy Leece agreed an elected mayor would send a clearer message of the city’s goals, but they got no support from colleagues and the measure failed on a 2-2 vote at a meeting that lasted from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Councilwoman Linda Dixon was absent.

Six Orange County cities directly elect their mayors. But as several residents pointed out, if their mayors have more influence it’s probably because some of those cities are among the largest in the state, such as Anaheim and Irvine.

“The city that seems to have the most clout around here is Newport Beach, and they don’t have a directly elected mayor,” resident Beth Refakes said. “I really don’t see any benefit to this at all.”

Former Mayor Sandra Genis called the proposal “a solution in search of a problem” and said it could be perceived as “a power grab by termed-out politicians.”

Some objected to the fact that an elected mayor would not be subject to the city’s existing term limits. Mansoor didn’t suggest any and in fact said he opposes them in principle. Under voter-approved rules, Costa Mesa City Council members can’t serve more than two consecutive four-year terms, but after leaving the council they may later run again.

The failure of the elected mayor measure was a surprising upset.

Councilwoman Katrina Foley said earlier she supported letting voters decide the mayor issue, but at the meeting she disputed when it should be on the ballot. She suggested waiting until the November general election, which typically has the best turnout, while Mansoor proposed the issue for the February presidential primary ballot.

“I feel very strongly that if we’re going to let the voters decide … we should do it when the most people are voting,” Foley said.

Councilman Eric Bever, who is generally one of the majority’s three votes, rejected the issue without comment.

Bever has served as mayor pro tem, who takes over in the mayor’s absence, since late 2005. Traditionally, the mayor pro tem has often been next in line for the mayor’s seat.

Also at the record six-hour Tuesday meeting, council members voted unanimously to approve plans for a CarMax Auto Superstore at Harbor Boulevard and Gisler Avenue, but they set several conditions for the developer to make the project more palatable to neighbors.

The store, which would replace the Wickes Furniture building, was approved by the planning commission but appealed by residents of the adjacent French Quarter town homes. They worried about added traffic, light and noise from the auto dealer.

In other business, the council voted to sell a parcel on Hamilton Street that has been a community garden for about four years. Council members want to see the small plot included in a mixed use development planned for the same block by Red Mountain Retail Group. No negotiations have been held with the developer, so it’s unclear how much the parcel might fetch.