Landis 'excited, honored' to be mayor

Says 2012 will be a bumpy year,' but the council is up to the challenge'

The Ukiah City Council will start 2012 with a new seating arrangement for its meetings and a new mayor, Mary Anne Landis, to run them.

"This is my first meeting to chair as mayor and I'm very excited about it," Landis said during the council's Dec. 21 meeting, reading a prepared statement that included lyrics from a Leonard Cohen song that she said were "pretty awesome," and would relate to what she thought the council would be facing in the coming year.

"Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering, there's a crack, a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in," Landis read, adding, "I think 2012 is going to be a bumpy year, but we are up to the challenge, and I look forward to the challenges in 2012."

At the previous meeting, Council member Phil Baldwin nominated Landis as mayor and Council member Doug Crane as Vice-mayor. A change in the mayoral rotation two years ago when Landis said she wanted to pass on being mayor in 2011 sparked controversy and a protest from Crane last year, but the nominations were passed at the Dec. 7 meeting with a unanimous vote.

"I'm happy to be mayor," Landis said. "I'd be honored."

Also during her first meeting, Landis urged residents to seek out the city's new "Journey Map," a poster soon to be displayed at city hall that chronicles visually the steps the city has taken since 2008 to close a budget deficit that was projected

to reach $15 million by 2014.

"It is a pictorial image of what we've been through, the storms that we've weathered and the bold action that has been taken by the council to rectify the deficits that were projected for the city," Landis said. "We're not quite there, but much work has been done thanks to the focused effort of our council."

Landis described the council has having "a good base of knowledge here, thank goodness there are five of us," and closed her comments with: "Here is to the light we can shine on our little city."

A new arrangement for the council chambers was debuted for the meeting as well. In October, the council approved moving the table where city staff sits to where the speaker's podium was previously, and the speaker's podium to the center of the dais, facing the council.

Baldwin objected to the change because he said the seated audience would no longer be able see the speaker's face, but Finance Director Gordon Elton said "the intent of public comment is to address the council, not the audience," adding that the majority of governments he has worked for have their speaker's podiums in the center facing their boards. "The intent (of having the podium in the middle) is to put the speaker in front of the entire council, not just one member (as it is now)."

At the time, Assistant City Manager Sage Sangiacomo said the two cameras used to record the meetings will also be replaced soon.

"We do have money, less than $5,000, that's been budgeted for replacement of the cameras," Sangiacomo said, explaining that the goal is to have three cameras. Another change will allow people watching on their televisions or computers to clearly see Power Point presentations made by speakers.

"The fourth position will be a digital projection of the presentation, so people (watching at home) will be able to see a clear picture of what is being presented," he said.

The new cameras were not in place at the Dec. 21 meeting.

Justine Frederiksen can be reached at udjjf@pacific.net, or 468-3521.

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