Adelson stepping down as council president

City Council President Fran Adelson was set to step down at Thursday’s council meeting after just six months, and hand the position over to Vice President Len Torres.

Adelson, Torres and Councilman Scott Mandel, who would become vice president, all said that the move is part of a new practice of rotating the council’s two top officers every six months in order to create more “transparency and openness.”

Though the announcement was made on the city’s website on Monday, all three Democrats said that they had discussed the issue after they were sworn into office in January, in the wake of their victory over the Republican majority in November.

“We didn’t want one person dominating the presidency,” said Adelson, who will remain on the council to serve her four-year term. “This will be a very smooth transition. The plan is to do it every six months. It’s been my pleasure to serve as president, and I think I did it during a very hard time.”

According to the city charter, the council elects a president to preside at council meetings, and may vote to change presidents at any time. Every resolution, local law or ordinance passed by the council must be signed by the president, or by a temporary president in his or her absence, or by three council members.

With Democrats holding a 4-1 majority, the measure was expected to pass on Thursday. “It’s to allow for new perspectives and to avoid one person from dominating the council’s agenda, or having their own agenda,” said Mandel. “The idea is to have systematic rotation to allow for fresh ideas and avoid the potential for abuse that we’ve seen in prior administrations.”

Torres acknowledged that the move was also made to ease the pressure on council members and their personal lives, though Mandel and Adelson insisted that the change was not the result of any personal or professional obligations.