Depending on the structure of the city’s charter, December and January may bring a change in city leadership positions such as mayor and vice mayor. Here’s a quick summary of each of the changes of select cities.
Image: Palo Alto Online
Depending on the structure of the city’s charter, December and January this may bring a change in city leadership positions such as mayor and vice mayor. Here’s a quick summary of each of the changes of select cities:
Campbell
Campbell rotates their Mayor and Vice Mayor seats annually. Sergio Lopez completed his Mayoral term and Vice Mayor Dan Furtado took the helm as the new Mayor for the year. The new Vice Mayor is Elliot Scozolla.
Cupertino
Cupertino rotates their Mayor and Vice Mayor seats annually. Liang Chao completed her Mayoral term and Vice Mayor Kitty Moore moved into the Mayor position for the year. In a move unique to Cupertino, the council voted to make Liang the Vice Mayor.
Gilroy
Gilroy has a directly elected mayor for a 4 year term, so Mayor Greg Bozzo remains in his seat until he is up for re-election in 2028. This year, Carol Marques rotated out of the Mayor Pro Tempore seat and was replaced by Zach Hilton.
Los Altos
Pete Dailey completed his term as Mayor. Usually, the Vice Mayor becomes the next Mayor. However, the Vice Mayor, Neysa Fligor was elected to be the new County Assessor and has vacated her seat on the Los Altos City Council. Sally Meadows became the mayor for another term and Larry Lang is now the new Vice Mayor. The council will decide what to do with the vacancy at a future date. An interesting dynamic to balance: Neysa Fligor served in an at-large seat, but the next election in Los Altos will be by district.
Los Altos Hills
Like many other cities in the county, the Mayor for Los Altos Hills, Kavita Tankha, rotated out of her seat after serving in the position for a year.The Vice-Mayor, Rajiv Bhateja became the new Mayor. However, in a unique twist, the council voted to make George Tyson the Vice Mayor for the first 6 months of 2026 and Linda Swan the Vice Mayor for the second half of 2026.
Milpitas
Milipitas has an elected Mayor for a two year term, so current Mayor Camren Montano remains Mayor until next year. Vice Mayor Garry Barbadillo also remains in his position for this year.
Morgan Hill
Morgan Hill directly elects their Mayor for a 4 year term, so he will remain the mayor at least until he is up for re-election this year. Last August, the city council changed their Mayor Pro Tem to Marilyn Librers. She remains in that seat for this year.
Mountain View
Mountain View rotates their mayor based on a vote by council and guided by council policy. Mayor Ellen Kamei rotated out of the position and was replaced by Vice Mayor Emily Ann Ramos. The council selected Chris Clark to be the new Vice Mayor.
Palo Alto
In Palo Alto, Mayor Ed Lauring rotated out of his position and was replaced by his Vice Mayor, Vicki Veenker. In a split council vote, Greer Stone became Vice Mayor once again.
Saratoga
In Saratoga, outgoing mayor Belal Aftab completed his year as Mayor. Vice Mayor Chuck Page formally rotated to the Mayor seat. The council elected Tina Walia to be the new Vice Mayor.
San Jose
San Jose directly elects its Mayor and that Mayor selects their Vice Mayor from the current council. Therefore, the Mayor remains Matt Mahan and his Vice Mayor remains Pam Foley.
Santa Clara
The City of Santa Clara directly elects their Mayor for a 4 year term, so it remains Lisa M. Gillmor. However, they rotate their Vice Mayor, so Kelly Cox rotated out and was replaced by Albert Gonzalez.
Sunnyvale
Sunnyvale has a directly elected Mayor and it remains Larry Klein. However, the Vice Mayor seat rotates annually, and Linda Sell was replaced by Richard Mellingher.
Los Gatos
Los Gatos rotated their Mayor annually, so Matthew Hudes returned to being a council member and was replaced by then Vice Mayor Rob Moore. Maria Ristow was selected as the new Vice Mayor.
Monte Sereno
Monte Sereno rotates their Mayor position. However, Vice Mayor Javed I. Ellahie resigned last year due to health issues. So Mayor Burton Craig returned to being a council member and was replaced by Lon Allan and Lisa Shannon was selected to be Vice Mayor.
Santa Clara County
In Santa Clara County, the supervisors vote on the President and Vice President of the Board every year. However, it is customary for the president and vice president to serve 2 annual terms. Therefore, Otto Lee and Sylvia Arenas were elected to a second term of being President and Vice President respectively.
Our staff was able to attend many of these reorganization meetings. Local governments have a big impact on addressing our housing crisis. We look forward to partnering with these leaders to bring policies that produce and preserve housing as well as protect tenants.