CLEARLAKE, Calif. – At its last regular meeting of 2015, the Clearlake City Council elected its leadership for the new year.

Russ Perdock, who took his seat on the council last December, will be the mayor for 2016, with Gina Fortino Dickson to serve another term as vice mayor.

The vote for the new mayor and vice mayor happened toward the end of the two-and-a-half-hour meeting on Thursday, Dec. 10.

Councilwoman Joyce Overton nominated Perdock for mayor, a motion which at first did not receive a second.

Outgoing Mayor Denise Loustalot then nominated Fortino Dickson for the mayoral job, noting Fortino Dickson has worked hard to prepare herself for the mayor's job.

Councilman Bruno Sabatier then seconded Overton's nomination of Perdock.

“This is a completely new way of doing it,” Loustalot said during the proceeding.

In past years the council typically has followed a succession plan of having the vice mayor move into the mayoral seat. However, last year Loustalot had been elected to a second term as mayor, with the council wanting continuity and consistency in leadership due to other changes the city was undergoing.

In the roll call vote for mayor at the Dec. 10 meeting, all five council members voted to elect Perdock.

Loustalot then moved to nominate Fortino Dickson for another term as vice mayor. Perdock seconded and the council voted for her unanimously.

This will be Fortino Dickson's third consecutive year in the vice mayor role. She was elected to the council in 2012.

City Clerk Melissa Swanson said that in 2016, the Clearlake City Council will continue to observe its schedule of holding regular meetings at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursday of each month in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

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