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Mesa council selects Scott Summers as vice mayor in 4–3 vote
Summary
The Mesa City Council voted 4–3 to name Councilmember Scott Summers vice mayor for the next two years after a brief discussion about switching to one-year terms and clarifying charter implications.
The Mesa City Council voted 4–3 Tuesday to select Councilmember Scott Summers as vice mayor.
The vote came after Mayor Mark Freeman moved to nominate Summers and Councilmember Rich Adams seconded the nomination. Councilmember Summers told colleagues he was “honored” to be considered, and he said the current two-year vice mayor arrangement is tied to charter provisions that determine whether the vice mayor automatically succeeds to the mayor’s office in some circumstances. “If we’re going to make a change from a 2 year to a 1 year, there’s other charter issues we’re gonna have to clean up,” Summers said.
The motion followed a short discussion about whether to use one-year rotating terms instead of two-year appointments. Councilmember Duff urged that option as a pilot and warned the council it could be clearer in the charter; she said adopting one-year increments could be done without changing the charter immediately. “We could vote 2 council members now. The tradition, the way that vice mayors are usually selected are based on seniority,” Duff said, and argued for considering a one-year system going forward.
Councilmember Pillsbury also weighed in, reminding colleagues that council positions are nonpartisan and urging the council to avoid framing the vote as a partisan choice. At the end of roll call, Mayor Freeman announced the tally: four yeses and three noes, and declared Summers the new vice mayor.
The council did not record an individual roll call of how each member voted in the public transcript. The council did not change the charter during the meeting; Summers and other councilmembers noted that moving to one-year vice mayor terms would likely require technical charter changes to clarify succession rules.
The selection will stand as announced; council leaders did not add further directions or a follow-up assignment related to charter changes during this meeting.
The vice mayor serves as acting mayor under the charter in some circumstances and councilmembers discussed whether that succession provision should be revisited before any shift to one-year terms.
