Sentinel staff report–
The Citrus Heights City Council on Thursday voted unanimously to appoint Porsche Middleton to serve as mayor for the next year, but a subsequent motion to appoint Bret Daniels as vice mayor was shot down in a 3-2 vote.
Following the failure of Tim Schaefer’s motion to nominate Daniels, a subsequent motion to nominate Schaefer as vice mayor was made by outgoing Mayor Steve Miller. That motion passed unanimously.
The annual nomination and ratification of council members to serve one-year terms as mayor and vice mayor has historically been a routine formality, but the process became contentious last year when Schaefer and Daniels both voted “no” on the nomination of Miller and Middleton to serve as mayor and vice mayor. Daniels at the time said he felt he had been “intentionally passed over” for a shot at mayor.
No discussion of the nominations was made during Thursday’s meeting, but council members explained their votes in response to an email inquiry from The Sentinel on Friday.
Despite voting against Middleton as vice mayor last year, Schaefer said he voted for her nomination as mayor this year “as an olive branch” and said he had “hoped that the rest of the City Council would vote for Councilmember Bret Daniels as Vice Mayor.”
Daniels likewise said he voted for Middleton this year “as a gesture” towards making 2022 “a year when we would see the entire council offer a more respectful and professional approach to leadership, especially as we finalize our selection of a new City Manager.” He said his colleagues’ vote against nominating him showed “pettiness and a continued effort to fracture the council,” naming Councilwoman Jeannie Bruins in particular.
Asked of the reason behind her “no” vote on Daniels, Bruins told The Sentinel “it would be disingenuous for me to support a man for mayor that I voted to censure for stalking a woman who reported it to CHPD twice over a 9 years span.”
As previously reported by The Sentinel, Daniels was censured by his fellow council members in 2018 after police reports from 2008 and 2017 surfaced alleging he repeatedly pursued communication with a former high school girlfriend in a manner she called “creepy.” Daniels responded by denying allegations of wrong doing, and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office concluded that no criminal conduct occurred.
From 2018: Citrus Heights council votes 4-1 to censure one of its own
The council’s censure was not discussed again during council meetings until Daniels opted to bring the matter up again in comments made two months ago during an Oct. 14 council meeting where he acknowledged sending an “unwanted email” and reiterated that he had apologized to the individual involved, who has remained anonymous. The councilman said in his latest remarks that after further reflection he had seen a need to additionally apologize to his fellow council members “for any embarrassment, any distress I might have caused them in the matter.”
He also said “while the email I sent was not nefarious, nor did it have any ill will, I do understand how something can have unintended consequences, and I’m certainly sorry for that occurring in this manner.”
Middleton and Schaefer will serve one-year terms on the council as mayor and vice mayor, respectively. Middleton was first elected in 2018 and Schaefer joined the council in 2020 as its newest member. The council annually selects members from among its ranks to serve in the positions, which are largely symbolic titles.
Following Thursday’s installation, Schaefer said he was “stunned” to have been nominated as vice mayor, assuming instead that Bruins would have been nominated for the post.
“I am honored to serve as Vice Mayor, but I still think given his years of experience Councilmember Daniels is due the opportunity to serve in a leadership role on the Citrus Heights City Council,” Schaefer said.
Daniels was originally elected to the council in 1999 and 2002, serving as vice mayor in 2004 and mayor in 2005. He resigned in 2005 citing personal reasons, and was later elected again to the council in 2016 and 2020. Daniels announced earlier this year that he will run for Congressional District 7 in 2022.
