John Erickson might be WeHo’s last Mayor Pro Tem.
Among other, perhaps more pressing items on City Council’s plate at their Monday night meeting is a proposal to rename the role of “Mayor Pro Tempore” a.k.a. “Mayor Pro Tem” to “Vice Mayor.”
“Mayor Pro Tempore” means “mayor for a time,” which actually applies more to the “Mayor” position. Unlike many major cities in the United States such as Los Angeles or Houston, neither the mayor nor the mayor pro tempore of West Hollywood are elected by its citizens. Instead, the five elected city councilmembers decide who gets those titles, and traditionally they’ve been on an unofficial rotation that lets each of them spend more or less a year in each role.
Both Mayor and Mayor Pro Tempore are ceremonial roles that possess no more official sway or power than that of the three other councilmembers. The role of mayor (and to a lesser degree, the role of mayor pro tempore) does carry intangible prestige, and acting as the city’s top spokesperson, the sitting mayor has ample opportunity to trumpet their vision (or push their agenda, depending on your vantage point).
Mayor Sepi Shyne’s stint is drawing to a close this month, and barring some major unexpected development, Mayor Pro Tem Erickson will be WeHo’s next mayor. Chelsea Byers, being the newest member of City Council, is in line to be the next Mayor Pro Tempore.
Or Vice Mayor, if the proposal passes.
What’s the difference?
Pretty much nothing.
Like Vice President of the United States, the main responsibility of the No. 2 is to fill in when the No. 1 is unavailable.
So why change it?
Well … they use Vice Mayor in Beverly Hills, the staff report notes.
What the staff report doesn’t note is the obvious reason we’re even talking about this — “Vice Mayor” sounds a lot better than “Mayor Pro Tempore.” Does anyone on earth disagree?
We get it — if you have to be the unpaid understudy of a ceremonial mayor for a whole year, at least let people get the impression you’re doing something cool.
Had anyone noticed the name plate in front of John Erickson which states “Dr. John Erickson”. Seems a bit superfluous. Will we next have Mayor Dr. John Erickson? Have a bit of dignity and please tune down your posturing.
Apologies. My error it states John Erickson PhD.
I am with the one commenter who asked “really…with all that’s going on…this is what they’re debating?” I would think there would be more important things to consider. This shows me the city council is off its rocker.
Why not a Vice-Mayor? After all, Abbott had Costello, Laverne had Shirley, Bill had Ted, Cheech had Chong…
Don’t forget Shemp.
I prefer Vice Mayor to Mayor Pro Tem. I can’t tell you how many times a friend asked, what is a Mayor Pro Tem.
Vice Mayor sounds fine and simple. What we don’t need are any more poseurs, self aggrandizing and self promoting coucilmenbers
Perhaps the term “vice mayor” is especially appropriate, because vice, grift, and corruption are the keywords that personify the city council.
really…with all that’s going on…this is what they’re debating? unbelievable.
good grief