Glendora : 1st Woman Mayor Named

Lois Shade became the city’s first woman mayor this week when the City Council approved a new method for selecting its leader.

The city had been without a mayor since April 12, when the term of retiring Mayor Kenneth Prestesater expired. The council split on the choice of a successor, with two council members voting for Shade and two others voting for Councilman Bob Kuhn. Mayor Pro Tem Leonard Martyns voted against both nominees.

At Tuesday night’s meeting, Martyns proposed that the city adopt a rotating system for selecting the mayor, similar to that used in West Covina. Under such an arrangement, council members serve a year each as mayor in order of seniority and the number of votes received in the election. The council approved Martyns’ recommendation unanimously.

Because Shade received the most votes in the 1986 election, she will serve the first year as mayor. Martyns will succeed her, followed by Kuhn, Councilman Larry Glenn--the top vote-getter in the April election--and Councilman David S. Bodley. The candidate who receives the most votes in the 1990 election will become mayor in 1993.

“I think we realized that we had a problem for awhile and we had to resolve that problem,” Shade said.

Although he will have to wait two more years to be mayor, Kuhn agreed. “I don’t have any question that it’s fair,” he said. “It removes any back-room dealing.”