Alison, thank you for your service as our Mayor in 2023. Pat, I am sure you will provide outstanding leadership in 2024.

Many thanks to Alison Hicks for her insightful leadership as Mayor during the past year. She was an excellent and effective model of the positive, collegial attitude of our city council. Thanks to all of you for your willingness to serve us all in the ongoing process of helping Mountain View be a world-class city.

This Council and the last have been particularly good examples of collegial action. Also, "a well-established city protocol. Every council member gets the chance to be mayor and vice mayor as part of a regular rotation based on seniority." This helps to establish the mood. In the past, I remember a 'relative outlier' in his opinions, John Inks, was selected (with some dissent) and yet he also served very well as Mayor.

[Mayor History, just popped up, JTA.org archive May 20, 1965 "Mountain View, a fast-growing city on the Bay, has elected its first Jewish Mayor, 32-year-old Charles Gordon, a resident since 1958" ... "In 1962, Mr. Gordon was elected to the City Council by the largest vote ever given to any candidate." ...]