CC 12-07-2021 Item No. 3 and 4 Elect Mayor and Vice Mayor_Written CommunicationsCC 12-07-21
#3 and #4
Elect Mayor and
Vice Mayor
Written Comments
From:Jean Bedord
To:City Council; Cupertino City Manager"s Office; City Attorney"s Office; City Clerk
Subject:Agenda Item #3 / 4: Election of Mayor and Vice Mayor: public comment - City Council, Dec. 7, 2021
Date:Sunday, December 5, 2021 7:33:21 PM
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Honorable Mayor Paul and Councilmembers,
As you select the mayor and vice-mayor for 2022, please consider the role of council and
the primarily ceremonial function of the mayor’s position.
According to CHAPTER 2.17: CITY COUNCIL/CITY STAFF RELATIONSHIPS, Cupertino
Municipal Code, 2.17.010 “Under the Council/Manager form of government neither the
City Council, nor individual Council members, can give orders to any subordinates
of the City Manager. The City Manager takes his or her orders and instructions from
the City Council only when given at a duly held meeting of the City Council. No
individual council member can give any orders or instructions to the City Manager.”
As such, the powers of the mayor are significantly constrained. The mayor, under our form
of government, holds few additional powers beyond those of other councilmembers: the
mayor chairs council meetings, has an added say in setting the meeting agenda, makes
committee assignments, and represents the city in a ceremonial capacity. Beyond these
highly limited powers, the mayor has no daily operational role distinct from other
councilmembers. It is therefore no surprise that in Cupertino, like other general law cities,
the mayorship rotates among elected council members.
The mayorship has been dominated by males for too long. There are three (3) women
on the council, and one of them should be selected to represent Cupertino to other
agencies. Look at the history of inequality for women::
2010 Kris Wang (Asian woman)
7 year gap of male mayors
2017 Savita Savita Vaidhyanathan (1st Indian-American woman)
2018 Darcy Paul (city manager David Brandt resigned)
2019 Steven Scharf (two interim city managers, Amy Chan and Timm Borden, then Deb
Feng))
2020 Steven Scharf (Deb Feng as city manager)
2021 Darcy Paul (city manager Deb Feng resigned, interim city manager Greg Larson)
It’s time to have women in leadership positions in the city – both the new city manager
and city attorney are male In addition, there are slightly more women than men in
Cupertino, and this is not reflected in the leadership.
I urge this council to be more equitable and fair to the women on the council, instead of
deferring to male colleagues.
Cupertino’s tradition has typically relied on the vice-mayor becoming mayor, offering the
position in order of the number of votes received (in recognition of will of the voters), and–
for the sake of equity–giving each councilmember at least one opportunity to be mayor. The
2019 election of Mayor Steven Scharf for a second, back-to-back term violated that
principle. Under the city’s tradition, Vice-Mayor Liang Chao is the obvious successor to
current Mayor Darcy Paul. She has served twice as Vice-Mayor, so it would ordinarily be
her turn to have the opportunity to be Mayor.
Please make your choices to provide equity for women in our city government.
Jean Bedord
Long time Cupertino resident
From:Liana Crabtree
To:Darcy Paul; Liang Chao; Kitty Moore; Jon Robert Willey; Hung Wei
Cc:City Clerk
Subject:written communication, 12/7/2021, Council Meeting, Agenda Items 3 and 4, Election of Mayor and Vice Mayor
Date:Tuesday, December 7, 2021 11:36:13 AM
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Honorable Mayor Paul, Vice Mayor Chao, Council Members Moore, Wei, and Willey:
Please include my letter as written communication for the 12/7/2021 Council Meeting,
Agenda Items 3 and/or 4, Election of Mayor and Vice Mayor.
Thank you all for your dedicated service on behalf of the City of Cupertino. I
appreciate the care and concern evident in your words and actions for the benefit of
the people who live, work, and attend school in Cupertino and Santa Clara County.
Cupertino voters elected each of you to represent the community as Council
Members, but the choice for who will lead the Council is entirely yours. There is no
"rotation" nor "fair" nor "entitled" when it comes to selecting the Mayor and Vice
Mayor. Council chooses those who they trust to set agendas, frame discussions, and
represent the City responsibly to the rest of the world.
I am grateful to all of you for serving on Council, especially during such a tumultuous
and divisive time. I appreciate the way the 2021 Council has handled regular
business (a heavy workload!), contentious challenges, and all manner of sideways
shenanigans with grace, calm, and deep respect for members of the community.
Sincerely,
Liana Crabtree
Cupertino resident
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From:Munisekar
To:City Council; City Clerk; Cupertino City Manager"s Office
Cc:Munisekaran Madhdhipatla
Subject:Election of Mayor and Vice Mayor tonight.
Date:Tuesday, December 7, 2021 12:50:26 PM
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Good afternoon City Council.
My name is Muni Madhdhipatla, an active resident of the Cupertino community and a
planning commissioner. I am writing this email in my individual capacity as a resident of
Cupertino.
I believe you have the most important annual task tonight of electing Mayor and Vice Mayor
for next year. I request that you elect the best qualified among the council for these 2 positions
as Cupertino deserves the best. You don't need to rotate through every council member for the
sake of rotating through; that is how things were done till 2016 by the old guard controlled by
the construction lobby. Since 2016, you took a different approach of electing the best qualified
among the group to be Mayor and Vice Mayor; I hope you continue this new way of doing
things.
Mayor Darcy Paul and Vice Mayor Liang Chao have done a great job of leading us through
difficult times. We see the results of their work through recognitions Cupertino gets such as
City with Best Roads, City with Best IT department and so on. Our city has been paying the
price and recovering from the poor decisions of past incapable leaders prior to 2016. We don't
need to repeat that.
Thanks for your service. Keep up the good work.
Cheers
-Muni