Third time’s a charm for Millbrae’s Schneider?

But that is not always the case in Millbrae, as shown a couple years ago when councilmembers agreed to break protocol and skip over Schneider, who was positioned to become vice mayor and mayor in the subsequent year.

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.

Schneider was twice primed to fill the vice mayor post, but was skipped over. Holober and Oliva were the highest vote getters in the most recent election, now positioning them to take the posts.

Looking to the upcoming meeting, Schneider said she would still like to become vice mayor but is more interested in preserving the healthy dynamic among elected officials which has prevailed for most of the year.

“Whatever happens next week, I hope it’s a good healing process and we all move forward together,” she said.

Such a sentiment is a departure from the barbs exchanged between officials, when most councilmembers twice determined Schneider’s conduct was undeserving of the vice mayor title.

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 last year, and Lee moved over to the mayor’s seat, again leaving Schneider positioned — according to protocol — 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.

Though he was disinterested in serving as vice mayor last year, Holober said he would accept the nomination to work as mayor in 2020.

“I would be happy to serve as mayor if I’m nominated and selected,” he said.

Holober declined to comment on whether he thought Schneider should become vice mayor this time around.

“I’m not going to get into that,” he said, while balancing that perspective by noting the council seems to have been more productive and cohesive in the past year.

Lee too deferred to protocol when asked how the rotation should go, while crediting Schneider’s contribution to the productivity of the previous year.

“This year has been really good. We’ve worked really well this year. That goes to show she is becoming a good councilmember,” said Lee.

He also left the door open that she could finally move into the vice mayor post.

“It would have to mean that we would break protocol,” he said. “It’s a possibility. I’m not ruling it out.”

For her part, Schneider too acknowledged the improved relationships among city officials.

“This year has been a really great year. Working with Mayor Lee has been really terrific. We got a bunch of projects that have been in the planning stages done, and I greatly appreciate that. And I really appreciate how well council has worked this year,” she said.

Shall the good will circulating among officials translate to Schneider reaching her desired position though? Lee said time will tell.

“I haven’t really decided yet,” he said.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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