Challengers win by promising change in the city, but who on city council will join their plight?

Sixty percent of votes cast in Tuesday’s city council election went for the two change candidates, but the winners—John Delgado and Myrna de Vera—will only make up forty percent of the newly-formed governing body.

In order to bring about the change they’ve promised in their candidacies, they’ll need at least one sitting councilmember to join them and establish a change caucus.

Some elements of the changes proposed by the challengers are underway already, specifically with respect to delivering a more transparent and accountable government: Interim City Manager Charles Long has ripped up the controversial $1.1-million no-bid contracts with NEO to run the affordable housing department and other municipal functions. In his second weekly report, Long said that he has asked NEO to develop a revised scope of work “to more accurately reflect current organizational needs.”

Long has also cancelled all subcommittee meetings until the city can determine the best way to include the public in on pertinent city discussions.

Until very recently, subcommittee meetings had no agenda and were not noticed, and meeting minutes are still not recorded. These meetings have been a sore spot for many residents who have claimed the city is conducting business behind closed doors and in defiance of open meeting laws.

The principal issue with the subcommittee meetings was that they were an avenue for items to be lost within the consent calendar and approved at subsequent city council meetings. Although the consent calendar is intended for items that are considered to be routine, it wasn’t unusual for multi-million dollar contracts to be swept under the rug in one fell swoop by way of the consent calendar.

It went like this: a subcommittee member would state that all items were discussed in the finance subcommittee meeting—a meeting that was not noticed, and had no agenda or minutes—and the items would then be approved by a unanimous vote; there was no discussion.

So here we are. Hercules voters demanded change on Tuesday, and Delgado and de Vera arguably have a mandate to make at least portions of their platforms a matter of council and city policy. But which councilmembers will join that coalition, if any?

Councilmember Don Kuehne was elected under the guise of change in 2008, but his time in office has been largely defined by passivity. Councilmembers Ed Balico and Joanne Ward are long-time officeholders—both entering their eleventh year in the position—but their respective styles couldn’t be any more different. Balico is rather outspoken, and Ward is more subdued in her presence on the council.

There is certainly room for common ground for the new council. One of the platforms the two challengers campaigned on was elevating the long-awaited waterfront development as a top priority. Balico has long been an ardent supporter of redevelopment and may seize the opportunity to be the project’s champion at city hall.

Long, as part of his duties as interim city manager, has also re-started negotiations with the waterfront developer, AndersonPacific, as the two sides aim to forge a public-private partnership. This provides a golden opportunity for the two new councilmembers–on the heels of their impressive victory–to push the development as a top priority.