Goleta residents will decide next year whether they want to directly elect their mayor.
The Goleta City Council directed staff on Tuesday to prepare the question for voter consideration on the November 2016 ballot — a change that if approved would set up the first mayoral election for 2018.
Right now, Goleta voters elect five council members at large, who then choose the mayor from within their ranks on a rotating basis each year.
The council voted 3-1 in favor of putting the decision on the ballot, with Mayor Paula Perotte against and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Farr absent.
The city has abided by the same system since it was incorporated in 2002, but City Attorney Tim Giles said two other options were available.
The city could let voters decide whether to directly elect a mayor for either a 4- or 2-year term via a ballot measure at the next municipal election — per state law — or draft a city charter that would allow the city more flexibility in determining when and how to elect a mayor in off-cycle elections.
“The second way is more cumbersome,” Giles said, noting an elected commission or staff would have to create a charter document.
Perotte said she was concerned about the appearance of “self-dealing,” adding that it might look like current council members were doing this to benefit themselves. She asked to delay the timeframe for a mayor election for four to eight years.
Giles said only a charterer city could delay the timeframe, since state law stipulates the first mayoral election has to occur two years after voters approve it.
Goleta’s first mayor and long-time councilwoman, Margaret Connell, cautioned against changing a system that has been effective thus far.
“I do have a concern about moving to have an elected mayor,” she said. “That period as mayor gives you some period of growth. To rotate the mayor every year keeps each member of council sort of equal.
“I think that is a good operating model for governance.”
Goleta is the only city in Santa Barbara County besides Carpinteria that doesn’t directly elect a mayor, Councilman Roger Aceves said.
“We are not deciding this,” Aceves said. “We’re asking the voters to decide this. I think that we owe it to our constituents to ask the question and see what they think.
“We’re old enough now that this is something we should at least offer them the opportunity to make a decision, one way or another.”
Perotte was the only official interested in learning more about a city charter.
Councilman Michael Bennett said letting residents decide whether to elect a mayor was the basis of a democracy.
As the only sitting council member Tuesday who hadn’t yet been mayor, Councilman Tony Vallejo said he thought holding the top post a year would go by too fast.
Perotte agreed her tenure was flying by, but stopped short of supporting the motion. She said she planned to do her own research into what a charter city would look like.
“I think we leave it the way it is,” she said. “It’s been working beautifully for the city of Goleta.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.