Mayors pass the gavel in Concord and Clayton

Concord and Clayton city councils each elected a new mayor and vice mayor at their Dec. 3 annual reorganization meetings.

In Concord, councilmembers elected Tim McGallian to serve as mayor and Dominic Aliano as vice-mayor for one year beginning Dec. 3, 2019.

McGallian was City Treasurer from 2015 to 2017. He is past president of the Todos Santos Business Association and founder of the Concord July 4 Festival. He was appointed to the Council in January 2017 and elected to a four-year term in 2018. McGallian represents District 5.

Aliano was elected from District 3 in 2018.

Both McGallian and Aliano previously served on the Planning Commission.

In Clayton, the Council elected Julie Pierce to serve as mayor next year. This is the veteran councilwoman’s 27th year in the Council and the sixth time holding the gavel.

In a departure from tradition, the Council elected first year councilman Jeff Wan as vice mayor. Typically, both the mayor and vice-mayor positions rotate along seniority lines and Councilman Jim Diaz would have been the expected choice. Diaz, however, just served as mayor in 2017, leaving the two first-year councilmembers, Wan and CW Wolfe next in rotation.

“Wan had more votes in the last election,” Pierce explained. “And while the number of votes has not been a policy in the past, it was a factor this year.”

“I’m grateful for the (Council’s) support,” Wan said. “And I hope to learn as much as I can as vice mayor while continuing to represent all the residents of the great city of Clayton.”