Schneider finally appointed mayor of MIllbrae

But those hard feelings seemed like water under the bridge during the rotation meeting which was held online due the pandemic, as officials called to form a unified front in hopes of collectively overcoming the hurdles ahead.

“It has been a weird year, but it was a really lovely year,” said Schneider, after she was sworn into the mayor’s post from her living room, reading the oath of office with her mother Jacqueline.

During the same meeting, Schneider and Councilwoman Gina Papan also celebrated their victories in the fall election and accepted another four-year term. Schneider took the mayor’s seat from Reuben Holober, who will rotate back to serving as a councilman. And Councilwoman Annie Oliva accepted her nomination to fill Schneider’s former post as vice mayor.

Anders Fung, who narrowly defeated fellow challenger You You Xue in the fall election, also took the oath of office to begin his first term as an elected official to fill the void left by outgoing Councilman Wayne Lee.

Acknowledging the hard feelings that formed during election season, Fung too urged collaboration to advance the community’s shared interest over the coming year.

“It’s time to have the community come together and I think it is important for us to realize as long as we are one, we can accomplish all our goals and we can bring this city coming out of the pandemic back to where it used to be and make it even better,” he said.

Fung and Schneider faced off regularly during election season, but Schneider said the two have since met with hopes of mending fences and discussing a strategy for working together.

“Let’s put the difficulty behind us,” said Schneider.

That harmonious sentiment also applied to the previous discord which followed councilmembers breaking protocol to skip Schneider on her path to the mayor’s post.

Millbrae’s policy is to allow the highest vote getter in the previous election to move from councilmember to vice mayor, and into the mayor’s seat the subsequent year. The vice mayor’s seat is to be occupied by the second-highest vote getter in the most recent election. But Schneider was twice primed to fill the vice mayor post, and was skipped over.

Schneider in 2017 was set to become vice mayor, but Oliva at the time claimed her colleague was unfit to get in line for becoming mayor because she does not work well with other councilmembers, burdens city staff with unnecessary tasks and is devoid of requisite leadership skills.

“She doesn’t deserve a promotion. It wouldn’t be fair to the citizens of Millbrae,” said Oliva at the meeting in November 2017. The seat sat vacant for months, until Lee was eventually selected as vice mayor while Councilwoman Gina Papan served as mayor.

The issue returned again the following year, and Lee moved over to the mayor’s seat, again leaving Schneider positioned to become vice mayor. But following a series of tense exchanges, Holober reluctantly accepted the post so as to avoid another stretch without a second in command on the council, once it became apparent insufficient support existed for Schneider getting the role.

Relationships among officials have since improved and, on her third attempt, Schneider was named last year to serve as vice mayor. Looking ahead, Schneider shared her hope that the good will shared among officials will carry over into 2021.

“This is a team-building year, and I look forward to working with each and every one of you,” she said.

In other business, officials and residents honored Lee’s years of service to his community. U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, and state Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, were among those who expressed their appreciation for Lee’s leadership and commitment to improving the quality of life in Millbrae.

For his part, Lee expressed his appreciation for the support he received from community members during his time in office.

“Thank you for the opportunity to serve you,” he said.

austin@smdailyjournal.com