A bumpy road toward council unity?

Noaki Schwartz

NEWPORT BEACH -- John Noyes and Gary Adams were selected Monday by fellow

council members to be the city’s newest mayor and vice mayor,

respectively.

And while the votes have been counted and the fanfare is over, the road

to the council’s united front may have left some bruises along the way.

Vice mayor Tom Thomson, who expressed interest in becoming mayor, was

overlooked for the spot despite the city’s tradition of promoting the

vice mayor to mayor.

And the selection of Adams leaves Councilwoman Norma Glover as the only

senior council member yet to serve as vice mayor or mayor.

Prior to nominations, several council members said they were not

interested in the city’s top spot.

Former mayor Dennis O’Neil said he felt a healthy turnover in government

was important. Jan Debay, who is on several different committees, was

recently elected president of the League of Cities and said she was

simply too busy.

Glover also indicated that she wasn’t interested in the position.

Despite her lack of interest, however, some tension did surface after the

vote, when the remaining council members were left to choose their seats

on the council dais. Traditionally, they are offered based on seniority

and rank. Choosing between the two most senior members -- Glover and

O’Neil -- Noyes decided to keep with chivalrous sentiments and said,

“ladies first.”

“If it’s ladies first, it should be Mayor O’Neil,” Glover said.

When asked about the comment, Glover said she misunderstood Noyes and was

in fact offering O’Neil the first choice because he had been mayor.

With the elimination of five council members, including Gary Adams and

Tod Ridgeway, who lacked the seniority generally necessary for the

position, the race for mayor was left to Noyes and Thomson. While Noyes

said he hadn’t given the matter much thought, Thomson indicated that he

would be very interested in becoming mayor.

Although the position of vice mayor is traditionally an office to groom

the next mayor, Thomson was not nominated.

“Of course I’m disappointed,” said Thomson. “[Former mayor O’Neil] has

said that I have done an excellent job in this last year as [vice] mayor.

I have worked hard to represent the city and have done a good job, but

this is politics -- an unseemly part of politics.”

He added that if it came down to a choice between attending his son’s

championship baseball game or being mayor, he’d choose the ball game.

The selection of vice mayor was much simpler. While Adams had openly

indicated that he was interested in being nominated, Ridgeway apparently

did not approach any fellow council members about becoming vice mayor.

“I think my time is so taken with issues that any position that takes

more of my time would really interfere with my ability to attempt to make

some changes,” said Ridgeway, who serves on more than four different

committees.

Like Thomson, he said he would limit his time commitments to the city in

order to spend time with his family.