The result was what many in the community had hoped for. Councilor Amorence Lee, the only member on the council with prior experience on the body, was appointed mayor after a meeting — the third in seven days — that lasted nearly six hours. But Lee’s appointment seemed far from confirmed hours earlier, and the meeting was not to have any twists and turns.
At the heart of the drama was a dispute over whether the mayor and deputy mayor should be appointed before a five-member body is chosen to replace former councilor Diane Papan, who vacated her seat after being elected to the state council last month. Newly elected council members Rob Newsom and Lisa Diaz Nash want to appoint Papa’s replacement before electing a mayor and vice mayor, while Lee and Councilman Adam Lorraine — another newly elected member — want to do the opposite.
San Mateo’s city charter mandates that the council appoint two of its own to serve as mayor and vice mayor at the first regularly scheduled council meeting following a general municipal election. This year, that meeting fell through on Dec. 5, when Newsom and Nash unexpectedly vetoed Lee’s appointment. They said they want to wait until a fifth council member is appointed before electing a mayor and deputy mayor. That left the four-person council deadlocked at 2-2, followed by a hastily called special session to resolve the issue.
The matter is very complicated because in this case the two appointments are related to each other. Under normal circumstances, if the council cannot agree on a replacement candidate after 30 days, the mayor fills the vacancy unilaterally. But without a mayor to break the potential impasse, he wasn’t sure what would happen if at least three council members couldn’t reach a consensus on who should fill Papa’s seat.
After officially interviewing eight potential replacements for Papan on Monday night, the four members appeared to agree that two of the candidates seemed viable options. The first was Rich Hedges, a longtime San Mateo resident known for his service on several city and county boards. The second was Cliff Robbins, an experienced business attorney. In the House’s first attempt to appoint Papa’s replacement, Newsom and Nash voted for Robbins, but Lee and Lorraine abstained – robbing Robbins of the three votes needed to nominate him to the House.
That’s when Lee made a dramatic announcement. She said two unnamed people approached her in the past week saying that if she helps get Robbins on the council, she can be sure the council will elect her mayor. Lee said this for the first time at the Dec. 7 meeting, but this is the first time she has revealed which candidate the individuals want her to appoint. Nash, visibly disgusted by Lee’s suggestion of a backroom deal, pushes her to reveal the names of the two individuals, but she refuses.
The council then invited Robbins to return to the DA, where he vehemently denied Lee’s allegations.Lee was asked to name the two individuals and even contemplated a possible defamation suit against the city.
“If you have facts, put them out there,” he said.
Lee, again, refused. The vacancy process is “poisoned,” she said, calling on her colleagues to nominate her as mayor before choosing Papa’s replacement. Nash said she was surprised the council implicated Robbins without any evidence of misconduct, and said she would not continue as mayor until she disclosed the names of the two men who allegedly approached her. Newsom, who said at previous meetings that he would support Lynn for mayor after a fifth council member was appointed, told her Monday night’s behavior gave him second thoughts about his past endorsement. Lorraine was mostly silent during the exchange.
In the end, Lee backed away from seeking the mayor’s nomination, and made a motion to nominate another candidate, Hedges, before the vote. Newsom, Lorraine and Lee voted to appoint him, giving him the necessary three votes. It was a surprise move as there was no discussion of which candidate – Hedges or Robbins – would be better for leadership. Instead, the council appears to have voted to appoint Hedges to prevent further gridlock.
She opposed Hedges’ nomination, saying she thought Nash was qualified but couldn’t choose him based on what had happened.
“This is not how any councilor should be elected or appointed,” she said. I can’t choose “yes”.
Regardless, the chamber audience gave Hedges a standing ovation, while Robbins sat down. Hedges was immediately sworn in and took his place at Dawes. Lee was then unanimously appointed mayor and Hedges—in what he described as a “healing” act—made a motion to appoint Nash as vice mayor, which Lee seconded. The council then voted unanimously to appoint Nash to the position.
During his 10-minute address to the council, Hedges talked about his accomplishments in city politics. Those include desegregating the city pool in Kansas City (decades ago) and removing “expensive” Federal Emergency Management Agency insurance from several homes in the San Mateo area. He concluded his speech by quoting the opening line of Charles Dickens’ novel “A Tale of Two Cities” and reading a passage from the book of Hebrews that encourages guests to be kind to one another.
The council’s next regularly scheduled meeting – and the first since last month’s general election with five members, the mayor and deputy mayor – is scheduled for Tuesday, January 3, 2023.
“First of all, I want to thank my kids for being my North Star and my family … and the brave young women and mother bears who keep my tribe moving and fired up,” Lee said after her appointment. “The community is my foundation, and it wouldn’t be possible without all of you.”
