Rob AriasAlly Medina abruptly resigned from her council seat at last night’s meeting. The announcement came at the tail-end of the council meeting when Mayor John Bauters inquired about future agenda items.
“I’m announcing my resignation from city council effective mid-january,” Medina explained [1:26:00]. “This is going to be my last city council meeting.”
Medina cited the time commitment and lack of compensation of the role and that the flexibility it required was holding back her career advancement.
Medina also added that she would be moving from the area for a career opportunity. Medina lists her current employment with Mysten Labs as of this year.
Medina also noted she was aware of the likelihood of this decision prior to the recent election but opted to not vacate her seat prior.
Medina was first elected in 2016 and was appointed to a second term in 2020 when no challengers filed.
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Medina was widely criticized for her unprofessional behavior at the last council meeting when she began wildly making gestures in response to a public comment. She was also criticized for not stepping into the roll of Mayor which she was in line for.
This announcement provides some insights and exposes the “show” that was made of the process when Bauters nominated her prior to “reluctantly” accepting a recently unprecedented second term as Mayor. It’s difficult to imagine he was not aware of the possibility of Medina’s resignation considering how close the two purport to be.
Sad to announce my resignation from the Emeryville city council this evening. It’s been a privilege to serve you all for 6 years. My cat was unmoved by my announcement. pic.twitter.com/tFPAnC9Pvv
— Ally Medina (@EvilleAlly) December 21, 2022
This is the second abrupt council resignation in recent years with Christian Patz resigning in 2021 just a few months into his second term. This seat was filled through a Special Election that was ultimately won by Courtney Welch. This Special Election cost the city over $157,000 for the County to facilitate.
The four remaining members of Council will discuss filling the vacancy at the January 17th council meeting and determine if it will be filled by appointment or by another Special Election.
Sources of potential candidates could come from the last election when Brooke Westling and Sukdheep Kaur both had strong showings placing third and fourth respectively. The Planning Commission is also considered a strong pipeline to City Council with both Bauters and David Mourra serving on the body prior to running for and winning their council seats.
Another of emeryville’s illustrious political hacks gone (thank god). Way to respect the office. Did you take lessons from Patz?
Unfortunately this as likely a play to allow an appointment as opposed to letting us elect our city officials.
She will not be missed
We just voted, shouldn’t this seat go to the next highest person on the list of 5 candidates from the recent election? Hard to justify wasting taxpayer money on another election so soon, and the optics of another “appointment” will only fuel further public mistrust toward this council.
The next highest person to get the votes, Brooke Westling, will likely pull a Medina/Patz given her antics of pulling out of the race at the 11th hour and not attending the League of Women’s Voters Forum or any other voter engagement events. Hopefully, this council will still respect the will of the people rather than engage in the political maneuvering which Bauter’s is an expert at.
Exactly. The seat should go to Sukhdeep Kaur who got the next highest count of votes and DIDN’T drop out of the race!
I saw Brooke out at community events and was quite impressed. This sounds like a sour grapes strategy from someone who got fewer votes! Sad.
Can we replace her with someone who doesn’t speak with the inflection of Paris Hilton and use “like” in every other sentence?
Who?
Glad to see Medina leave, as her public demeanor was frequently inappropriate and out of line. It seems advantageous to the current Mayor that she resigned after the election so he could further control the council membership. But as a crypto queen, she is probably suffering from market shock. Farewell.