City to get new mayor Tuesday

On the heels of a protracted City Council election that played out over the past two weeks that saw three incumbents re-elected, the city will get a new mayor on Tuesday.

The council will meet in executive session before its regular meeting to discuss, among other issues, appointment of a successor to former longtime Mayor Christian Price.

If the council chooses one of its own members, as seems to be the case based on the agenda, it would need to appoint a new member to complete the term of the new mayor.

Interim Mayor Vincent Manfredi, who will relinquish that title, has said repeatedly he does not have the time to fulfill mayoral duties in the long term. That means the new mayor, who will be sworn in during the regular meeting, can be expected to come from a field of five councilmembers: Nancy Smith, Henry Wade, Rich Vitiello, Amber Liermann and Bob Marsh.

Manfredi, Vitiello and Wade won re-election to the council in the Aug. 2 primary, with all three garnering enough votes to skip the general election. The council will canvass those results during its Tuesday meeting; if the resolution passes, election results will become official.

In other business, City Council will vote on approval of $1.52 million in funding for the construction of a new 8.5-acre park with two new ballfields in the Lakes at Rancho El Dorado, as well as a zoning change for the site from single-family residential to open space.

Editor’s Note: Vincent Manfredi is co-owner of InMaricopa.