Huntington Beach council elects Casey McKeon as mayor and Butch Twining as mayor pro tem after disputed procedure

Casey McKeon was sworn in as mayor of Huntington Beach after a unanimous 7–0 roll-call vote at a ceremonial council meeting. The council later set aside a standing policy on mayor-pro-tem succession and, after heated deliberation and a formal Brown Act allegation from a councilmember, elected Butch Twining mayor pro tem on a 6–1 vote.

The meeting opened with roll call and a ceremonial invocation before moving through many public comments. Dozens of residents urged the council to follow legislative policy resolution 63-20, which the public and several speakers said directs the mayor pro tem role to the councilmember with the longest consecutive service (or, in ties, the member with the most recent votes). A Friends of the Library representative also told the council the group sought to donate $825,000 to the library subject to three conditions about facility use and content protections.

During the formal business, Mayor Burns moved to elect Casey McKeon as mayor; the motion was seconded, put to a roll-call vote, and passed 7–0. McKeon then administered the oath of office and took the dais.

Shortly after, McKeon offered a motion to set aside resolution 63-20 and limit oral comment on the mayor-pro-tem selection to two minutes. The council voted 6–1 to set aside the policy, opening the floor to nominations. A councilmember identified in the record as speaker 13 objected on Brown Act grounds, saying the procedural change had not been noticed on the posted agenda with 72 hours’ public notice; the city attorney, Mike Vigliotta, advised the council the set-aside was a procedural matter tied to the mayor-pro-tem process and did not require a separate agenda item.

Two nominations were put forward. A substitute motion to nominate Councilmember Chad Williams failed on a 5–2 roll call. The subsequent motion to nominate Councilmember Butch Twining passed 6–1. Twining was sworn in and pledged to work diligently for the city and to "regain friendship" across the dais.

After the votes, newly sworn Mayor McKeon outlined priorities for his term, including streamlining permitting to support businesses, continuing the city’s homelessness-reduction efforts, and planning large public events for the upcoming semi-quincentennial. The council adjourned with the next regular meeting scheduled to be held at the Civic Center Council Chambers.

Votes at a glance: the council voted 7–0 to elect Casey McKeon mayor; it voted 6–1 to set aside resolution 63-20; it later voted 6–1 to approve Butch Twining as mayor pro tem. The record shows a formal point-of-order and public claim that the set-aside violated the Brown Act; the city attorney advised the council that the set-aside was within procedural bounds.