Joe Mosca at dedication of Sierra Madre Room in January, 2011
City Council member Joe Mosca has announced that he will resign from City Council. Mosca was elected to a second term on the Council in April of 2010, and his term ends in 2014. Mosca’s spouse, Matt Bosse, who has been the head of the 4th of July Committee the last few years, has been offered a job in London, and the couple decided to accept the job. They will move with their two adopted sons, Garrett (4) and Devan (9 months).
Mosca was originally elected to the Council in 2006, and in his first evening on the Council alienated many of his backers when he chose to vote to move forward with a draft of the Downtown Specific Plan, with the intent of a citywide vote on the completed DSP. The backers wanted a vote on the DSP in its draft form. In 2007, Mosca was served with recall papers, but those backing the recall were unable to gather enough signatures to make it happen.
While the City doesn’t have a policy on how Council members are selected Mayor, there is a tradition, and for two years in a row, Mosca was passed over on a Council in which he was generally a minority vote. He was ultimately chosen to be Mayor after the 2010 election, when new members Josh Moran and Nancy Walsh gave him the majority he needed. City Hall was packed with cheering Mosca supporters that night, who cheered his election to the mayor position. Mosca was the top vote getter in both elections in which he took part.
In his letter to supporters, Mosca pointed to some of the successes that occurred during his time on the Council, among them the beginning of paramedic services, enhancing hillside zoning to preserve hillsides in the future, and a balanced budget.
Click here to view the entire Joe Mosca resignation announcement.
Is there going to be a special election?
I haven’t spoken with anyone at the City or on the Council to hear what people have in mind, but as broke as the town is, I’m guessing we will not have a special election. My guess (just a guess) is that either the position will be filled till the end of his term, or someone will be appointed until the April 2012 election, when it will cost no more money to elect someone (since there’s an already scheduled election taking place).