Santa Clarita Mayor Bill Miranda said Tuesday he was striking a deal for the sake of City Council unity and to bury any perceived ill will: He’ll support Councilwoman Marsha McLean’s next bid for mayor pro tem, if the council can move past the mayoral-rotation discussion.  During a somewhat contentious December meeting, McLean said she wanted the Santa Clarita City Council members to take politics out of their process to pick the mayor.  Since the city’s inception, Santa Clarita’s mayor has been a largely ceremonial role chosen by members of the City Council.  From the city’s founding in 1987 to 1999, there was a rotation in place that was ratified by the council each year; a quarter-century ago, the council decided to make choosing the mayor a vote among themselves.  The role largely involves running the City Council meetings and representing the city as its ceremonial head for public events, a job the city’s charter describes as a “leader among equals,” but also the person the city manager goes to as the council’s representative leader.  McLean asked Miranda to agendize the discussion for having a mayoral rotation versus a vote after she felt she was denied her turn to be mayor pro tem a second time in two years last month, due to what she described as “personal vendettas.”  McLean said she was under the assumption it was her turn to be mayor pro tem during former Councilman Cameron Smyth’s final year on the council in 2024.   After Councilwoman Laurene Weste nominated Miranda for mayor pro tem over McLean in December 2023, McLean made a comment on the dais blaming Weste for the snub.  Last month, Councilwoman Patsy Ayala nominated Councilman Jason Gibbs for mayor pro tem when the nominations opened, which once again drew McLean’s ire.   It’s not the first time McLean has brought up the topic.   During an April 2019 council discussion, McLean also called for a rotation, with the idea of making it a “non-political” process. The discussion did not go any further after objections from Weste, Smyth and former Councilman Bob Kellar.  McLean said Kellar also didn’t want her to be mayor because she had gone against him in the past.  Neither Kellar nor McLean were immediately available Wednesday for comment.  In her opposition to the rotation, Weste cited several reasons to support keeping it a council vote, also implying Tuesday there was no need to fix a system that wasn’t broken.  “In America, majority generally rules,” she said, “and we have done a majority vote and it has worked well for 25 years, and we have not had issues.”   Weste also said in a previous phone interview she holds no ill will toward McLean. The two have had disagreements on the dais but also found themselves on the same side of issues. Weste attributed any uncomfortable feelings to the nature of politics.  Miranda at one point expressed frustration during the discussion, saying McLean was forgetting that there were two people on the dais, he and Weste, who voted for her to be mayor in 2019. McLean said she had not forgotten.  Miranda also asked McLean if she voted for TimBen Boydston to be mayor pro tem when it was his turn, mentioning the former councilman known for his willingness to question a quorum.   McLean, who didn’t support Boydston, said that was a different scenario because the council had agreed then the mayor should reflect the city’s position on issues and Boydston frequently didn’t.  Miranda’s offer means McLean, presuming she gets the needed additional vote for a council majority, could be mayor pro tem in 2026, the next time the position is up for grabs — unless another is nominated first.  That would mean, if tradition holds, in order to be mayor again, McLean would need to win reelection in November 2026.  McLean said repeatedly the request wasn’t about her twice-thwarted attempts to be mayor pro tem, the person who is usually elected mayor the following year. She said she first brought it up in April 2019 when she was mayor because she almost didn’t get to be, due to Kellar’s objection, she said.   “I tell you what I’m going to do, because I want you to understand that I have zero animosity toward you, and never have had any animosity toward you — I will support you to be the next mayor pro tem of the city,” Miranda said. “I will do that. I want us to get along and I want all of us to get along.”  McLean said that’s all she wanted, too.   After Miranda’s comments, McLean’s motion to change the mayoral-selection process failed to get a second for support.  “OK, so that motion dies, and we have harmony on the council again,” Miranda said, acknowledging McLean, who gave a gentle laugh. “OK, good.”  The post City keeps council vote for mayoral selection  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.