There will be a special City Council Installation meeting to bid farewell to the outgoing City Council members and to swear-in the in-coming City Council members on Tuesday, December 6, 2022. The new Villa Park City Council will also vote on the next Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem.
The meeting will take place on Tuesday, December 6, 2022 in the Villa Park City Council Chambers located at 17855 Santiago Blvd., Villa Park, CA 92861.
New Villa Park City Council
The election results are not official as it’s still too close to call with more votes to count. It is anticipated that the election results will be certified in time for a swearing-in ceremony for new councilpersons on December 6th.
Villa Park City Council Nominees
- Crystal K. Miles
- Donna Buxton
- Marybeth Felcyn
- Nicol Jones
- Jordan Wu
Farewell to Outgoing City Council Members
As is also tradition Villa Park residents and city officials will bid farewell to Chad Zimmerman and Bob Collacott. Both Zimmerman and Collacott chose not to re-run for election.
Mayor Selection
Established tradition is that the Mayor Pro Tem is elected Mayor. The next Mayor Pro Tem is someone who has not served during their 4 year term. Typically, the City Council uses the number of votes a councilmember received in an election to determine the order of who is Mayor Pro Tem next. The highest vote getter is first.
Under this tradition all City Council members serve a year as Mayor Pro Tem and then Mayor during their 4 year term. This protocol has been followed since Villa Park’s inception over 55 years ago and the very few exceptions are littered with political infighting.
Most recently this occurred in 2016 when Diana Fascenelli nominated Rick Barnett as Mayor Pro Tem over Bill Nelson. Barnett had already been Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem and by protocol it should have been Nelson, thus injecting political divisiveness over established protocol. In 2014 tradition was followed when in-coming City Council members Nelson and Collacott voted for Fascenelli as Mayor, after having served as Mayor Pro Tem.
Some might question why this is the practice but there is little political advantage to not follow tradition while risking political discord to start the new City Council era. Villa Park is under California General Law and has a council-manager form of government.
The position of “mayor” present in this type of government is largely a ceremonial title, and is selected by the council from among its members. The mayor presides over city council meetings and signs all ordinances and resolutions adopted and contracts approved by the City Council. The mayor cannot directly appoint or remove officials, and lacks veto power over City Council votes.