The City Council is scheduled to decide Tuesday night if 30 minutes of public comment should be held at the beginning of council meetings and if the mayor and mayor pro tem position should rotate in April after elections or in December — the traditional time for the mayor’s selection.

Mayor Frank Ferry asked that City Manager Ken Pulskamp look into moving 30 minutes of public comment at April 24’s City Council meeting after he was selected as mayor.

Councilman TimBen Boydston asked Pulskamp to look into moving the selection time for mayor shortly after he was sworn in at the same meeting.

Public comment

With Ferry’s proposal, 10 residents could have three minutes each to comment on items not on the agenda. Public comments on individual agenda items would continue to be allowed. 

Ferry’s proposal also moves council member comments to the end of the meeting, after all items are heard and public participation has been completed.

The timing of public comments has been changed several times over the years, said city spokeswoman Gail Ortiz. The comments were moved to the end of meetings in 2008, according to minutes from the Nov. 23, 2008, meeting.

Ferry said the comments were moved to the end of meetings because up to 100 residents would come to speak at meetings, leading to City Council meetings that sometimes lasted until 1 a.m.

He said his proposed change was in response to issues that came up during this year’s election and thinks the proposal is fair.

“It seems like a fair compromise,” Ferry said. “We’ll still do the people’s business at a decent time.”

Mayor election

The vote for mayor and mayor pro tem has traditionally been held in December because the City Council adopted a policy in 1987 of rotating the position on an annual basis to coincide with the city’s birthday Dec. 15, according to information from the city of Santa Clarita.

The mayor and mayor pro tem positions traditionally rotate the honorary position, with council members often serving in the mayor or mayor pro tem positions when they are up for re-election.

Boydston said that his proposal would give incumbents and challengers a more even footing during elections, since the mayor often gets more publicity than other council members.

“It won’t allow the other people running to position themselves to gain that extra exposure,” Boydston said. “In addition, it allows for a smoother transition in the case where the mayor is no longer the mayor after the election.”

Boydston said that he hoped Ferry would be mayor until April 2013, then current Mayor Pro Tem Bob Kellar would be mayor during elections for Ferry, Councilwoman Marsha McLean and Councilwoman Laurene Weste in 2014.

If the council approves Boydston’s item, it would be up to them to decide when the policy takes effect, Ortiz said.

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