Dick Spotswood: Good advice for Marin’s new and returning mayors

Each year Marin’s 10 general-law municipalities select a mayor from among their council members. Most look forward to their one-year term as an opportunity to demonstrate their leadership talents. Based on their election dates, some municipalities select mayors in July and others in December as Fairfax, Belvedere and Mill Valley have just done.

New mayors are either first-timers like Mill Valley’s Max Perrey or those who served previously including Fairfax’s Stephanie Hellman and Sally Wilkinson in Belvedere.

There is tried-and-true advice that every mayor should learn as they start their term.

I recently sat down with Marin’s sole directly elected mayor, Kate Colin. San Rafael is Marin’s only charter city. It specifies that mayors are elected by a citywide vote for a four-year term. Colin, the first woman to serve since the Mission City was incorporated in 1847, is in her second term.

Here’s advice that she shared, along with my thoughts from personal experiences years ago when I was Mill Valley’s mayor.

When you’re appointed by your colleagues as mayor, the first task is making liaison appointments for the other council members to county and regional agencies. Seek their preference before you consider what you’d like to grab. Willie L. Brown Jr., the past Assembly speaker and San Francisco mayor, said: “You’ll be amazed what’s left when you let the others go first.”

The mayor is the first among equals. Some past Marin mayors forgot that rule by exhibiting arrogance. They paid a steep price when they returned as regular council members.

Don’t be too political. Surrender the idea that being mayor is a stepping stone in Democratic or Republican politics. Your constituents will see you as “too political.” Instead, presume that your mayorship is your sole chance to shine. Doing a good job and solving problems is the best resume builder.

Always say yes when invited to community meetings. You’ll communicate that you and your city’s government cares. Reach out to neighborhood and business groups. Offer to meet with them and bring along any city department chief they’d like to question. That’s a long-term trust building exercise.

Join your local Rotary club. It’s smart politics to know and work with those from your town’s business, professional and nonprofit sectors on community projects.

At council sessions, the mayor should speak and vote last. A staff presentation is followed by council members’ questions and public comments. Then the council will discuss the issue. Allow the other four council members to speak first, then the mayor goes last so as not to improperly dominate the conversation.

Become the council’s conciliator. Leadership is about healing old political wounds and breaching personal differences. The goal is to “make the town work.” A good mayor is a healer not a divider.

Colin is known for her walkabouts to small businesses. I’ve joined her on occasions. The mayor enters a retail store, restaurant or manufacturing shop, introducing herself to staff. Invariably the surprised and delighted owner quickly appears. She gladly takes their questions and pursues their suggestions.

Promote local businesses. Marin’s downtowns need to be vibrant. Work to eliminate commercial vacancies, making your downtown a place teeming with shoppers, diners and drinkers often in a European style outdoors setting.

The city manager is your partner running the city day to day. Check in with them every morning to review the latest affairs. While Marin’s mayors are the towns’ policy deciders, they are part-timers mostly with private sector jobs. Councils retain professionals to hire and fire employees and supervise their productivity.

Attend and participate in Marin County Council of Mayors & Councilmembers sessions. To excel as mayor, you’ll need to personally know your colleagues in Marin’s 11 cities and on Marin’s Board of Supervisors. The MCCMC is the ideal venue to foster collaboration on issues that can only be addressed countywide.

Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley writes on local issues Sundays and Wednesdays. Email him at spotswood@comcast.net.