Mission Viejo City Council - Power Changes Hands

I attended the Mission Viejo City Council meeting tonight to watch the change of power as Mayor Lance MacLean was recalled and Dave Leckness was sworn in as his replacement. I've known Dave for most of the 25 years he's owned Kwik Kopy here in town (he's done a lot of printing for me over the years) and I was interested to see the reaction from the audience and council to the Feb. 2nd election.

I expected a big crowd and arrived about 30 minutes before the meeting...and was the very first person in the council chambers. I guess there's not much reason to get there early. I had the place to myself.

The crowd did finally get there and for the most part the seats were full. It was definitely an older crowd - I think that's pretty typical of the folks who show up for these things. It almost looked like the audience at a Southern Gospel concert.
I had a chance to greet Dave before the meeting began, and here he is getting some last minute instructions from Mayor Pro Tem Trish Kelley.
Outgoing Mayor Lance MacLean opened the meeting and opened the floor to public comments. There were maybe 8 or 10 people that made statements, all of them in support of the recalled mayor. A couple were less than gracious - not toward the mayor but toward those who led the recall effort. The last lady even called out the names of her perceived political enemies, including the proprietors of a couple of local blogs - the Mission Viejo Dispatch and the Orange Juice Blog.

I'm glad that none of the recall proponents chose to speak during that opening session. There would have been no benefit to getting into a spitting match at that point and by sitting that out they let some of the more vociferous recall defenders be the ungracious ones.
Mayor MacLean's remarks were heavy on what he claimed as his accomplishments during his time on the council, and were conciliatory in tone. Although he had made some tough statements in the aftermath of the election, to his credit he didn't bring them to the meeting.

Following his remarks Mayor Pro Tem Trish Kelley presented the outgoing mayor with a plaque of appreciation, and with that his service on the council was over.
The City Clerk then called Dave Leckness up and he was sworn in as the newest member of the City Council. he'll serve the remainder of MacLean's term which runs through the end of the year and will face re-election for a full four-year term in November. He won't have a lot of time to make an impression on those who oppose him.
Following his swearing in he was presented with the proclamation that declared him a member of the City Council and received a standing ovation from the crowd.
Dave then gave a very typical Dave Leckness acceptance speech - somewhat disjointed and meandering at times, but with lots of enthusiasm and humor and references running from Nelson Mandela to Wild Bill Hickock. He's obviously glad to be there and is looking forward to making his mark on the city.
Dave then took his place on the dais, and here's where things got a little weird. The next item on the agenda was the reorganization of the Council to select a new Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem. It was pretty obvious that the fix was in as far as who was going to be the new mayor, so when the clerk asked for nominations for Mayor Pro Tem Council Member Frank Ury nominated Leckness. That took me back a bit because every other council member has years more experience on the council, and yet they made the guy whose chair wasn't even warm yet the Mayor Pro Tem. I'm sure that will get some attention from the critics of the council majority. The vote was 4-1 with Council Member Cathy Schlicht as the lone "No" vote.

Council Member Trish Kelley was then chosen as mayor, again with Schlicht as the lone "No" vote. I get the feeling she's pretty lonely on that City Council.

I wish the new City Council, and especially Dave, good luck. There's clearly some significant divisions in this city between different factions and if Dave can help bridge those differences, more power to him.