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Palm Springs is considering returning to a form of government it tried nearly 45 years ago, and ultimately dropped.
In 1982, the city approved electing a mayor that represented the entire city, a system used today by about 170 of California’s 482 incorporated cities and towns, according to Common Cause, a non partisan group in Washington, D.C. that advocates for government reform.
That system remained in place until 1994, when Palm Springs became a charter city and installed a council-manager government.
Palm Springs then began using the form of government it has used for the past 32 years. The city is divided into five districts, each with its own city council member. The mayor’s seat – a mostly ceremonial position with no special power – is rotated among the council members, with each serving a one-year term.
Now the Coachella Valley city (pop. 44.500) is proposing bringing back an elected mayor.
How much authority the office would have has not been determined, but the basic structure of Palm Springs’ government won’t change, according to the man leading a group trying to make that change happen.
“We are proposing that we keep the districts we have now, and adding a citywide directly-elected mayor,” said Rich Gordon, chairman of Citizens For an Elected Mayor. “That would allow the council members to keep focusing on their districts, and the mayor to focus on citywide issues.
“The mayor would be accountable to the entire city, not just one part of it.”
In the council-manager system, the city manager is hired by the city council to carry out the council’s policies, with the mayor’s seat rotated among the council members, as it’s done in Palm Springs.
Palm Springs adopted the council-manager system to avoid violating the California Voting Rights Act. That move was a response to a lawsuit filed by the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project that accused Palm Springs of reducing the influence of its Latino voters.
At that time, a lot of California cities were switching to a council-manager government, because the state Voting Rights Act says a city can’t use a mayor-council system if it hurts the ability of a “protected class” to influence the outcome of an election.
The council-manager format “has served Palm Springs well,” but an elected mayor would make the city’s government even more representative, according to Gordon.
“We have the most diverse city council in our history because of the council-manager system, and that’s a good thing that we should all be thankful for,” Gordon said during the first of several public meetings regarding the possible return to an elected mayor. “Under under the system we have now, the council elects the mayor, not the people.
“Every four years, I get a mayor I didn’t vote for.”
But Lex Ortega, a lifelong Palm Springs resident, said she doubts that a directly elected mayor would help create more representative government.
“I can guarantee that if we go back to a directly elected mayor, the mayor isn’t going to knock on my door,” Ortega, 39, said. “A directly elected mayor will have to get everyone’s vote, and the best way to do that is with TV ads, not knocking on doors talking to people.
“A rotating mayor system gives us people from different parts of the city, with different perspectives.”
In the Coachella Valley, Desert Hot Springs, Indio, and Coachella are the only cities with elected mayors, and none of them follow the “strong mayor” model used by five of California’s largest cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego and Fresno.
The strong-mayor system makes the mayor the city’s chief executive, giving that position most of the duties carried out by the city manager in a council-manager set up.
Palm Springs is not likely to adopt that model, but it’s “keeping an open mind” regarding how much authority an at-large mayor would be given, Councilwoman Elena Garner said.
“We are asking residents what type of system they would like to see,” Garner wrote in an email. “The system could stay the same, the rotation could be for a longer time period, the council could elect a mayor amongst themselves each year or two, a mayor could be directly elected by the residents, or there could be some other option.
“It’s simply a question of who, and for how long, someone should be in the ceremonial role of the mayor.”
Garner and Councilman Ron deHarte make make up the council’s direct-mayor subcommittee.
A directly elected mayor should focus most of his or her time and energy trying to secure state and federal funding, Gordon believes.
The city has several major projects in its immediate future, including a master plan for Palm Springs International Airport, remodeling of the Palm Springs Convention Center, and bridges to be built over Indian Canyon Drive and Vista Chino.
“We can’t pay for all of that ourselves,” Gordon said the during the July 22 meeting at at the Mizell Center. “We need someone who can consistently be in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento advocating on our behalf, and bringing back the resources that we need, and then steer projects to completion.
“We have holes in the ground where hotels should be, and bridges that take two years to be completed. We need someone who can fix that.”
Ultimately, whether or not Palm Springs adds an elected mayor to its present system should be left up to the voters.
“It should be on the ballot,” Gordon said. “A public vote is the ultimate form of community engagement.”
