Here's the official Menlo Park policy on selecting a mayor:

1. "The city council shall meet on the first Tuesday of December of each year and choose one of its member (sic) as mayor and one as mayor pro tempore (aka vice mayor)."

2. "Council policy shall be to rotate the mayor annually."

By that rule, it probably shouldn't be Cline.

3. "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."

By that rule, NONE of next year's Council Members meet the criteria (three have already been mayor, two haven't served for the one year minimum). Note that the rule doesn't indicate that the "served for a year" is any more or less important than "has not served as mayor" criteria.

3. "If all eligible members have served as mayor, then the member with the longest elapsed time since serving as mayor shall be selected as mayor. In the event there are two or more eligible members having equal seniority, the Council may select any eligible member as mayor."

The problem here is that the word "eligible" isn't really defined anywhere. The presumption is probably that it was meant to mean "served on Council for at least a year," but it could simply mean anyone who is currently a Council Member.

It would seem like the default mayor would be Fergusson, but it also seems like the new council could arguably interpret the policy to mean that all are equally "ineligible" and thus equally qualified to serve.

With no disrespect to the rules, I would rather have one of the newly elected members or Mr. Cline serve a second term than elect Ms. Fergusson as Mayor. I have concerns about her ability to provide the needed leadership for this community.

Well the action has certainly started. Fergusson seems to be in full mode ahead of trying to be next mayor.

Over on the City's e-mail log, McClure, our city attorney, sent out an email, trying to persuade the public that an email from Menlo Future (Lee DuBoc) did not tell the whole story on Fergusson's use of the City email services.

Obviously, Fergusson, looking to put this smudge behind her, got McClure to write this. Is this a good use of City staff time, having the City attorney write a response on a political issue?

Well DuBoc just shot back with a slug of emails that Fergusson sent (using her own person email service) but using her City email address to reply. Again miss-using the City's email services.

Fergusson at best is only stretching the rules.

Of, course, DuBoc herself is involved in the controversy of where she was able to assemble her large email list. There was plenty of evidence that she gleaned it from the City email log, which to council members, reveals a full senders email address, but not to the general public.

I think this should be decided by "The Decider": Peter Carpenter - he being the master of arcane bureaucratic rules :)

It should be Andy Cohen with Peter Ohtaki as Vice Mayor, followed by Kirsten Keith, followed by one of the elected council members in the 2012 election unless Ms. Fergusson runs for a 3rd term and somehow manages to get relected. In that unlikely scenario we should make sure that Kelly Fergusson never becomes mayor again.

Anybody but Fergusson! Please!

Remember the Park Theater fiasco (among many other things)?

This "policy" is simply the most current incarnation of these guidelines. Some years ago, the two candidates with the most votes were made Mayor and Vice Mayor.

The next mayor should be Andy Cohen, as he really cares about the people of Menlo Park and will not promote spending unnecessary money.

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Sure. Andy Cohen. Just ignore his remarks to attractive constituents. Exactly the sort of man we want as mayor.

Kelly Ferguson should be made to watch herself on previously recorded city council meetings and maybe she'll see why she wouldn't make a good mayor. She rambles on and on and often doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Cline runs a fairly tight ship but mutiny can occur at anytime.
Good luck to the next mayor.

Kelly should listen to anyone!! Kelly listens to only one person --- Gail Slocum, who fancies herself as Queen of the flock. Well Slocum bit off much more than she could swallow this time and cost Robinson his seat on council.

Kelly certainly should not be next mayor although she is really pushing all the buttons she can find. She even has City attorney McClure writing in the City's email log on her behalf.

I wonder if she will try to pack the council chambers with members of her family all in anticipation of her getting the position. That tactic worked once for Jellins many years ago.

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This is my only handle in this page. Please quit your censorship. Your bias is unbelievable.

EDITOR'S NOTE: You are using the same IP address as Infinite Wisdom. Besides, your post appears to be an attempt to characterize someone negatively, rather than discuss policy differences. We manage this site. If you don't like it, you can go elsewhere. This is not censorship. Censorship is something the government does. You can post on other websites or start one of your own. -- Richard