At a special meeting of the Antioch City Council, the council will take up two items that could adjust how agendas are set, while possibly moving to a rotating mayoral position.
The items were placed on Tuesday agenda after Councilmembers Mike Barbanica and Tamisha Torres-Walker bought the items forward after two recent meetings. Councilmembers grew frustrated after Mayor Lamar Thorpe has been intentionally withholding items requested by councilmembers to be placed on the agenda. These items were withheld for nearly 6-months before they were up for discussion–if not longer in some cases causing a special meeting to be held.
According to Tuesdays agenda, the two items are:
- Discussion of Agenda Setting Processes and Procedures for City Council Meetings
- Consideration of a process to transition the city from four to five elected districts and change the process for designating the mayor, from a directly elected mayor for a four-year term to a mayor serving one-year term on a rotating basis.
On Tuesday, Councilmember Mike Barbanica requested a special meeting to be called May 30 at 7:00 pm to revamp how the agenda is handled for council to give all councilmembers much more say in what is placed on the final agenda,” said Barbanica who said they can go over a seven point plan. He credited Tamisha Torres-Walker for working with him on a plan that they could present.
“If there are two other councilmembers who support a special meeting to specifically talk about the agenda and how things are placed on the agenda and what input councilmembers have and what timelines,” said Barbanica.
Thorpe attempted to explain why he held off placing items on the agenda, as well as the tobacco policy and said it was coming but Barbanica was not buying it.
“It is, but it should have been on the agenda tonight. I requested it last week, this council majority supported it. On a technicality it got killed last week and it shouldn’t have been, this council majority supported it,” said Barbanica. “So my request for a special meeting stands and we are going to totally revamp the way this agenda is done and give a power to the majority of the people sitting up here.”
Rotating Mayor Would Solve Dictatorship Behavior
Most cities in Contra Costa County vote in five city council candidates to serve elected office and a mayor is selected on a rotating basis for 1-year terms. Antioch residents currently selected their mayor on a 4-year term. If the council moves forward with a process, voters would simply no longer select a mayor, but rather five city councilmembers.
In Contra Costa County, cities with an elected mayor include:
- Antioch
- Brentwood
- Martinez
- San Ramon (2-year terms)
- Richmond
With a rotating mayor, each district would get more equity in representation within the City of Antioch rather than a mayor playing political favorites with certain councilmembers. It also would help more focus on the city of Antioch rather than working towards using it as a resume builder for higher office.
If Antioch does move forward with a rotating mayor, it would require a vote of the public.
Transition to Five Council Districts Would Fix Gerrymandering Problem
If the council moves forward with transitioning to a five-district council with a rotating mayor position, the council will have to re-draw its district maps and the four gerrymandered districts would be undone.
Back in March of 2022, the council voted 3-2 after a circus-like-process for a map that was adjusted specifically to district out councilwoman Lori Ogorchock as she would be unable to run for re-election and forced her to run in the last election against Councilwoman Monica Wilson.
The maps did not focus on communities of interest, while divided neighborhoods (such as Garrow Drive being divided along with the Silverado foothills built in the 1970), even split HOA’s in favor of political favoritism.
Antioch City Council Special Meeting
- Tuesday, May 30, 2023
- 7:00 pm
- 200 H Street, Antioch CA
- Agenda – click here
Note – this is a repost of May 25, 2023
10 comments
Could it be that there is a council majority emerging that is fed up with Mr. Thorpe’s power trip?
Rotating mayor is tempting in as much as it could prevent four years of misery and limit damaging behavior to a single year.
What a lousy idea. Because this particular Mayor is especially unpopular the response is to make the mayorship a ceremonial office? This is just not right. Good lord. The election is a year off. Surely we can wait until then to elect a replacement and restore some semblance of dignity to the office.
We got to get that tyrant of a Mayor out of our city’s politics. He’s proven to be immoral, unethical and even criminal. I was pleased to see that Torres is showing more unbiased and neutral positions in her votes. She’s clearly got the message that Thorpe only cares about himself and his personal agenda.
This is a terrible idea! A directly elected mayor provides stability. But sadly, sometimes the voters make a mistake, like they did in 2020 with Lamar Thorpe 😕 😞 It happens, but can be corrected at the next mayoral election.
Arne I respect you, but you are wrong. Antioch has had a 4 year mayor for decades now and it has failed the city. Nothing is being accomplished. Thorpe, Wright, Harper, James Davis, Don Frietas, Mary Rocha, Joel Keller. Look where its left Antioch. Perhaps its now time to try something new where all five councilmembers have to actually work together for the good of the community.
This is a great idea for us we can’t go on with Thorpe. We definitely need a change. This may not be a great idea but it’s better than doing nothing at all because this council is getting nothing done and making some awful decisions. Decisions that no one in their right mind would make.
Take Thorpe and Torres out of this City he has proven to be IMMORAL, UNETHICAL, BOTH ARE AGAINST OUR POLICE DEPARTMENT. EVER SINCE TORRES STARTED TO DISRESPECT OUR OFFICERS WITH A 19-MINUTE-LONG VIDEO. BECAUSE OUR OFFICERS DID THEIR JOB PROTECTING US FROM HER SON’S UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR OF DRIVING DIRT BIKES ON CITY STREETS. POOR, SHE COULDN’T FIGURE OUT WHY HER SONS WERE STOPPED BY THE POLICE. HER OLDEST SON ORGANIZED STREET SHOWS IN ANTIOCH. POLICE WERE CALLED FOR SHOTS FIRED IN HER FRONT YARD AND BEING DRUNK INTERFERED WITH THE POLICE INVESTIGATION PROTECTING HER SON. THIS ARE OUR REPRESENTATIVES. IS THERE ANY HOPE TO DO A BETTER ANTIOCH?
Why are you shouting?
Just don’t let Torres take a turn. It might possibly be worse than Thorpe.
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