New Council starts tonight

Councilmembers-Elect Dave Richins, Alex Finter, Dennis Kavanaugh, Dina Higgins, and Mayor-Elect Scott Smith will take their seats on the Mesa City Council tonight after being sworn in. Then, they are going to jump right in and face adopting a tentative budget.

Also on the agenda tonight is the election of a new Vice Mayor. I would guess that one of the two seated councilmembers will get the nod. My guess is, since he has been on the council the longest, Kyle Jones will probably get the honor. However, there may be some questions:

First, there may be some people who are uneasy with giving the Vice-Mayor position to the councilmember from the district with traditionally low voter turnout.

Next, neither Jones nor Somers endorsed Smith during the General Election. Would someone like Kavanaugh end up being the pick because he has been there before, supported Smith, and technically has the longest tenure?

Finally, the mantle has long been held by someone from the West part of Mesa, so maybe they would be smart to put it on someone from East Mesa. If thats the case, you may see Somers get the title.

I am sure there was a lot of discussion behind the scenes. It will be interesting to see where it goes.