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Albany council appoints Robin Lopez as mayor, Peggy McQuade as vice mayor
Summary
At a special Dec. 9 meeting, the Albany City Council voted unanimously to advance Vice Mayor Robin Lopez to mayor and Council Member Peggy McQuade to vice mayor. The council also discussed the internal "queue" used for leadership rotation and recorded a routine consent-calendar vote.
The Albany City Council voted unanimously Dec. 9 to advance Vice Mayor Robin Lopez to mayor and Council Member Peggy McQuade to vice mayor.
The action completed the council's annual reorganization. Council members cast roll-call votes after a staff presentation describing the council's reorganization guideline and the order, or "queue," used to select mayor and vice mayor.
The guideline places reelected members above newly elected members and anticipates that members will accept the posts as they come up in the queue. Council members discussed an unusual combination of reelected and newly elected members this year and confirmed that McQuade would serve as vice mayor after a council member in the queue declined the vice mayor role and deferred to her. A motion to appoint Lopez and McQuade passed on a unanimous roll call.
The council also approved routine items on the consent calendar earlier in the meeting; that motion likewise carried by unanimous roll call.
Council discussion touched briefly on how the queue would be ordered if members declined appointments in future reorganizations and whether vote totals from the election should affect queue position. Council members said the procedural guideline could be revisited on a future agenda.
Votes at a glance
- Motion: Approve reorganization to advance Vice Mayor Lopez to mayor and Council Member McQuade to vice mayor. Outcome: approved (unanimous). - Roll call recorded: Council Member Jordan — Yes; Vice Mayor McQuade — Yes; Mayor Lopez — Yes; Council Member Mickey — Yes; Council Member Hanson Romero — Yes.
- Motion: Approve consent calendar (Item 3). Outcome: approved (unanimous). - Roll call recorded: Vice Mayor Lopez — Yes; Mayor Mickey — Yes; Council Member Hanson Romero — Yes; Council Member Jordan — Yes; Council Member Tiedemann — Aye.
Background and next steps
City staff told the council the reorganization follows a written City Council procedure and a reorganization appointment guideline included in the staff report. Council members said they expect to return to the procedure at a later meeting to consider whether vote totals or other factors should affect the queue order. No changes to the guideline were adopted at the Dec. 9 meeting.
The newly appointed mayor, Robin Lopez, then assumed the dais and proceeded with subsequent agenda items.
