After weeks of counting, the final race in the Costa Mesa city council election is done and dusted. We have a new representative for District 6, with challenger Jeff Pettis knocking off incumbent and current Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Harlan.

In addition to Jeff Pettis joining the dais, the City Council will meet on Thursday to also swear in Mike Buley, who will succeed outgoing City Council Member Don Harper, as well as Loren Gameros (District 2) and John Stephens (Mayor) to their final terms.

Now what? Mayor Pro Tem, and in the distance, Commission and Committee selections

After the swearing-in, the Council’s immediate task will be selecting a new Mayor Pro Tem, a position formerly held by Harlan. I’d say it’s fairly likely, though not certain, that Manuel Chavez (District 4) will be selected. Chavez and Mayor Stephens have aligned on many issues, and both have matching terms (Chavez’s term runs through 2026). If Chavez harbors political ambitions, now would be the time for Stephens to offer support. Another potential candidate is Arlis Reynolds (District 5).

The more tantilizing question is what happens with the Commissions and Committees, particularly the Planning Commission. Four commissioners’ terms are ending: Chair Adam Ereth, Vice Chair Russell Toler, Johnny Rojas, and Jon Zich. Buley will likely keep Zich, who publicly endorsed him. Zich is a competent commissioner, and while I don’t always agree with him, he’s a solid public servant.

As far as I know Rojas will ask to be reappointed by Gameros.

Ereth and Toler present a far more interesting case. I think it is very unlikely Pettis will retain Toler, even though it would be in the overwhelming best interest of the city that he do so. Toler has arguably the best relationship with our Staff of any Commissioner and understands development as well as anyone I’ve seen in the role.

But Pettis undoubtedly feels like he’s been sent to City Hall to make change, and he may start at the Planning Commission. I don’t know who Pettis favors, but I wonder if he might look to a familiar face from the Righeimer/Mensinger era, or perhaps someone new.

Let’s assume Pettis decides not to reappoint Toler. That will put Mayor John Stephens in an interesting position with respect to the final at-large seat, which is presently occupied by Chair Adam Ereth. While Ereth has done a competent job, I wonder if Stephens keeps him on. I know that the handling of the pot shop applications was pretty frustrating for the City Council and that may reflect poorly on Ereth. If Stephens decides to go in another direction, he certainly could save Toler and appoint him in Ereth’s stead.

Or he could appoint Harlan to the seat. Presuming Harlan is up for it, that move would make a lot of sense. Arguably the Planning Commission is going to have as big a hand in the two biggest decisions the city has to make — the Measure K rezoning and the planning for the Fairview Developmental Center — as the City Council itself. And not only is Harlan professionally qualified, he’s familiar with the job: he’s already served as a Planning Commissioner.

Some parting thoughts about the District 6 race

As a resident of District 6 I certainly have some thoughts and feelings about getting a new representative. As I mentioned in my earlier election posts, I penned a Daily Pilot mailbag entry encouraging my neighbors to reelect Harlan, and the Harlan campaign used my piece in some of his re-election mailers. So I obviously had a preference.

And, as some have repeatedly let me know, it was apparently a surprising preference as I am (and continue to be) a registered Republican, and a proud one at that. But, dear reader, if you have been following along with this blog even superficially, it shouldn’t be a surprise at all.

Harlan was a highly competent representative. He was always prepared for Council meetings, and his background as an attorney showed in his thoughtful, incisive questions to Staff and fellow Council members. While he clashed on policy with some colleagues, he avoided petty arguments and maintained a calm, positive demeanor — a quality I admired.

In terms of policy, Harlan understood the city’s challenges perhaps better than anyone on the dais. He recognized that skyrocketing housing costs were symptomatic of deeper dysfunction in our development approach. He was a vocal critic of Measure Y, and he understood that limiting housing in Costa Mesa wouldn’t solve our growing transportation problems. Even if Costa Mesa froze population and housing growth, surrounding areas would continue to develop in response to our strong regional job market. He knew something had to change.

In addition to showing a strong grasp of these issues, he took risks in pursuit of solutions to these problems. He sat on — and likely drove — the efforts of the Measure K ad hoc committee, which produced the ballot initiative to roll back portions of Measure Y. Harlan then strongly supported the measure even when it was clear it wasn’t overwhelmingly popular. He also took a market approach to both rental protections and inclusionary housing, both of which put at him at odds with the more liberal members of the Democratically controlled City Council. I am confident he did so because he believed, as I do, that incentives matter, and that driving housing production and provision out of Costa Mesa wouldn’t only make our problems worse.

And finally, while I am deeply skeptical it decided the election, he stuck his neck out to finish the Santa Ana Avenue bike lane in front of Kaiser Elementary School just this past Summer. When I wrote about the importance of this street earlier this election season, I didn’t mention that the changes were not popular with everyone. Challenger Jeff Pettis made as much of an issue of the changes — in particular, the loss of parking near the school — as he could. Could this have cost Harlan enough votes to swing the election? I think that’s extremely unlikely given the very large Republican registration advantage and a wavy national election in the background, but in a tight race, every issue could count.

The point is that Harlan knew he represented a challenging district for Democrats and he pushed hard on reforms he believed in anyway. I thought that was worth rewarding.

Alas, my neighbors disagreed. And that’s ok. We now get to see what Pettis will bring to the table.