The Santa Clarita City Council held its annual organization meeting Tuesday to name the city’s mayor for 2026.
As expected, council members followed tradition and named Mayor Pro Tem Laurene Weste as mayor, after she spent the past year as mayor pro tem, for her seventh turn at the title, in her seventh term.
Also as expected, the gavel didn’t pass without a little drama.
Despite being a largely ceremonial title, which outgoing Mayor Bill Miranda called a “figurehead,” the choosing, the process and even who gets to be mayor pro tem — the person traditionally next in line — have all been sources of contention on the dais over the years.
One of the council members with the biggest issue regarding the mayoral process has been Councilwoman Marsha McLean, who once again felt she got the short shrift from her colleagues when it came time to choose who would be pro tem.
For her part, McLean nominated Weste as mayor, a move she made almost the instant the nominations opened up, which Councilwoman Patsy Ayala seconded.
The motion was supported unanimously, and Weste was then sworn in, leading her to thank her colleagues and the community for the role.
Weste talked about how sometimes the city’s leaders work with jubilation, and other times “acrimoniously.”
The pro tem discussion appeared to bring out some frustration, but there was no significant public discussion this time around.
For his part, Mayor Bill Miranda had said in December 2024 he would strike a note for unity and support McLean’s bid for mayor pro tem in 2026. In exchange, the council would no longer continue to debate a mayoral rotation, a topic brought up by McLean prior to the choosing of Weste as pro tem for 2025.
However, this year, when time for nominations came, McLean nominated herself, which Councilman Jason Gibbs seconded. And then Miranda nominated Ayala, which Weste seconded.
McLean and Gibbs supported McLean’s bid for pro tem, which failed. Miranda supported Ayala for pro tem, as did Ayala and Weste. The roll call played out as one might expect, with the council approving Ayala as pro tem on a 3-2 vote.
Miranda shared a written statement with the press table regarding why he supported Ayala, but it didn’t address last year’s commitment.
Miranda said, after the vote Tuesday, the pro tem title was about preserving the city’s style of leadership.
When asked after the vote about the change, he mentioned that, like himself, McLean was not running again. He wanted the person who was mayor pro tem to keep up the continuity of city leadership, which McLean could not fulfill if she doesn’t run in 2026.
But he also mentioned past tension on the dais.
“We’ve had a long year,” he said, adding he changed his mind “for good reason.”
“Marsha and I have had disagreements this year. I really don’t understand why she abstained on two or three of the most critical issues of the year, and that’s not leadership,” he said.
After the vote, McLean said she confronted Miranda and he said it was because she wasn’t running again.
“I said, ‘I thought you had given your word,’” she said. “And he said, ‘Well, things change.’
You know what? I’m just doing my job, and I do a good job. And I’m proud of what I do.”
