Thank you to the public for first electing me and to my colleagues for bestowing the honor of being mayor this past year, especially as we kicked off our Centennial celebration.

As mayor I have tried to be responsive and respectful to the public, not to be a nuisance to the staff and to be a colleague and consensus seeker among my fellow Council members.

I may not have always been successful in any of those regards but I always felt it has been worth the effort.

I have loved being mayor.

I have often told folks that there are only two downsides to being on the Council which are exacerbated when you are the mayor.

First, you cannot cross the street on a no-walk sign.  Someone will invariably spot you and say, “The nayor doesn’t think he or she needs to follow the law.”

The second is, no matter when you need to go to the store, be it 7 a.m., noon or 10 p.m., you need to get dressed and comb your hair or someone will say, “I just saw the mayor. He or she looked like a bum.”

Other than that the job is pretty rewarding.  The pay is pretty poor but none of us is doing this to earn a living.

As I mentioned at the Mayor’s Luncheon, we, this team on the dais, have accomplished a lot this past year that all of us in the community should take pride in.

But I am most proud of the work we did to create a set of six priority issues to help provide direction to the public and staff over the next several years.  Each of the goals is exciting. I am personally interested in spending my last year on Council working to increase civic engagement and in branding Culver City as a City of Kindness.

My one regret and recommendation is that one year as mayor is not enough time to get major tasks accomplished, let alone sometimes start.

Despite the fact all of us on Council are lovable and easy-to-get-along with individuals, I think it is hard on the staff to have to adjust to a different style of mayor each year.

Jeff’s style will be different from mine and Meghan’s was different from Mehaul’s.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of having a separately elected mayor who would have four or eight years to carry out programs and projects and set a direction with some consistency.  Anyway I leave that for you to ponder.  Thank you again for the privilege to serve you.