Menlo Park: Naming the mayor -- Mickie Winkler played Menlo Park: Naming the mayor -- Mickie Winkler played (February 01, 2006)part in creation of flawed document

By Rory Brown

Almanac Staff Writer

Councilwoman Mickie Winkler played a key role in the creation of a critically flawed document cited by Menlo Park City Council members to justify in part their controversial decision to name Councilman Nicholas Jellins mayor last December.

Ms. Winkler admitted at the January 24 council meeting that she had asked City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden to draft the document just hours before the council's December 6 meeting.

She also said during the meeting that she had "commented on" and "made changes" to the document. However, after the meeting she said she was mistaken and that she had not changed the document, a statement confirmed by Ms. Vonderlinden.

The Almanac pointed out in a December 14 story the errors in the document, which overstated the number of times a 12-year-old mayor rotation policy had been ignored by previous councils.

Ms. Vonderlinden said she and Ms. Winkler discussed the document, but the city clerk said she accepts blame for the mistakes.

At the December meeting, Ms. Winkler and Lee Duboc cited the document in explaining why they weren't following a policy designed to rotate the mayor's gavel to each council member. Adopted in 1993, the policy says council members who have served at least one year, but have not been mayor, should be first in line for the mayoral chair.

Under the policy, Kelly Fergusson or Andy Cohen should have been named mayor instead of Mr. Jellins. The duo often vote together and in opposition to the three other council members.

At the December meeting, Ms. Winkler and Ms. Duboc noted that the document showed the policy had been ignored at least one other time by a former council.

But the document was wrong. Only the current majority -- made up of Mr. Jellins, Ms. Winkler and Ms. Duboc -- had ignored the policy previously. That was in 2002, when Mr. Jellins was elected mayor instead of Councilman Chuck Kinney, who under the policy was next in line.
Time constraints

On the afternoon of December 6, the day of the council's annual mayoral election, Ms. Winkler asked Ms. Vonderlinden to draft the document, Ms. Vonderlinden said at the council's January 24 meeting.

Due to time constraints, the document wasn't reviewed by city staff or City Attorney Bill McClure, and had several errors, Ms. Vonderlinden said.

Mr. McClure said there aren't guidelines or laws that restrict how a council member requests information from the city clerk.

At Tuesday's meeting Ms. Fergusson took aim at Ms. Winkler, saying she had helped craft a document that supported her interpretation of the policy.

"I find it quite disturbing you would go to staff in this way, so we would end up with a document that hadn't been reviewed by the city attorney," Ms. Fergusson said to Ms. Winkler.

Although Mr. McClure agrees that the policy was ignored only in 2002, Ms. Winkler said she disagrees with his interpretation.

When pressed to explain why, she insisted that under the policy, Councilwoman Bernie Nevin should have been named mayor in December 1996 and 1997 because she had served as mayor pro tem just prior to those mayoral appointments.

The policy, however, includes no criteria giving priority to a mayor pro tem in the mayor rotation process.
Standing their ground

Despite the errors in the document, council members reaffirmed their opinions of the policy.

Ms. Winkler said the policy should be more of a "guideline."

"I don't particularly care for this policy -- it's a bad policy, and it's poorly written," said Ms. Winkler in an interview after the meeting. "Any council should have the discretion to choose its mayor."

Mayor Jellins said policies adopted by previous councils may guide but not bind future councils. He added that since this is an election year, the policy won't affect this particular council again.

Ms. Fergusson said the policy "promotes balance, civility and fairness."

Mr. Cohen said he supports the policy, and is "for strengthening it, not weakening it." He asked the council to adopt the policy as an enforceable ordinance. The council -- with Mayor Jellins, Ms. Winkler and Ms. Duboc opposed -- defeated Mr. Cohen's motion 3-2.
How the appointment policy is worded

This is the Menlo Park City Council's policy on appointing mayors (Procedure CC-93-001), adopted in 1993:

"Council policy shall be to rotate the mayor annually. The Council shall select as mayor an elected member of the Council who has served a minimum of one year and who has not served as mayor. If all eligible members have served as mayor, then the member with the longest elapsed time since serving as mayor shall be elected mayor. In the event there are two or more eligible members having equal seniority, the Council may select any eligible member as mayor."

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