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Council president proposes council vice president role to add leadership depth

2821663 · March 30, 2025

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Summary

Council President Starr proposed creating a council vice president role to provide a third-in-line leadership option, streamline routine presiding duties and expand representation at public events; councilors asked staff to draft language and remove any reference to an 'executive committee.'

Council President Starr proposed adding a formal council vice president position during the Jan. 18 work session, describing it as a way to broaden the bench of council leadership and to ensure continuity when the mayor and council president are unavailable.

Under the draft concept presented during the session, the vice president would be selected in the same manner as the council president and would serve as a third-in-line presiding officer behind the mayor and council president. The position would be expected to handle some routine procedural duties, represent the city at public events when the mayor and council president could not attend, and generally provide additional capacity for the council leadership team.

Council members raised several clarifying questions, including whether the vice president would regularly attend agenda-setting meetings and whether the role would create an informal "executive committee." Councilors agreed they did not want to create a two-tiered council; Council President Starr said the language would be revised to remove any suggestion of an executive committee and to explicitly state the vice president would be selected by the same council vote used to select the council president.

The council directed staff to draft clear implementing language for formal consideration at a future meeting. No formal vote was taken on Jan. 18; the council instead asked for a written draft that will return as proposed rule text for adoption or further amendment.