A decade ago when business owner Alan Corlin was on the City Council, there was talk of turning the mayor’s chair over to a popular vote of the community, converting to a standard four-year term.
One of the strongest reasons was that Mr. Corlin, from his tall, stately appearance to his professional political manner, loomed as an ideal candidate to usher in a new era.
The City Charter was being updated. Could this have been the right time to end decades of tradition where Council colleagues rotated into the mayor’s chair, one year at a time? Sentiment for change, however, never left the ground.
Six weeks ago Jim Clarke was elected mayor-for-a-year by his colleagues.
For him this is not merely an honorary role.
After becoming the first Culver City mayor to officially visit the community’s Sister City of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, Mr. Clarke returned home and carved a separate standard for mayor at Tuesday’s special Council meeting.
Gliding seamlessly into a role as chief executive of City Hall, he takes the mayor’s responsibilities with a formal seriousness, as previously noted.
A year ago, Mayor Clarke passed on becoming mayor when it was his turn in the rotation.
He wanted to be in office during Culver City’s year-long Centennial celebration, a spectacular event for which he was the birth father.
Mayor Clarke invited the dozens of applicants for open seats on advisory commissions to assemble for an unprecedented single mass interview session on Tuesday evening.
Whether that is a small- or medium-sized move, it puts a continuing Mayor Clarke stamp on an event.
Then there was the conduct of the special mayor-called session itself.
Throughout the four hours, Mayor Clarke led – did not dominate – the meeting. He asked but three or four questions of the candidates.
“My role as mayor, in running the meeting, is to let the others talk and ask questions,” he said. “That is what I have been doing for the past month.”
The most obvious benefit of the mayor’s increasingly clearly defined step-back role?
“Meetings get over earlier,” he said. Tuesday’s ended, as he had promised, before 11, at 10:56.
