Politics & Government

Updated: City Council Elects Allan Yung as New Mayor, Officials Respond

The San Marino City Council followed usual procedure and elected the vice-mayor, Allan Yung, as new mayor Wednesday night.

The San Marino City Council voted to instill Dr. Allan Yung—formerly vice-mayor—as mayor and Richard Sun as vice-mayor of San Marino at the city council meeting Wednesday night.

The yearly reorganization followed the tradition of choosing the vice-mayor as mayor.

“We are facing a period of possible disruption, one of which is the state economic crisis,” said Yung, noting one of his mayoral priorities. “Our has also been affected so as part of the community we want to be able to help in a way that is appropriate for the community and for our city. In my phrase as a physician, I say, ‘We want to keep our city healthy’.”

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Mayor Yung also stressed maintaining the community’s formula for nice homes that are “un-pretentious” and “low-key”.

“Most importantly I believe we want to keep our living environment sound,” said Yung.

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As part of his new mayoral duties, Yung accepted on behalf of the city a $50,000 check from the Wednesday night. Yung also personally thanked retiring San Marino Police Department officer Kevin Haggarty for his years of service, as recognized by San Marino Police Chief .

“Allan is going to be a very very good mayor,” said outgoing Mayor Dennis Kneier, now a city councilman. “We sat down and talked about what we’re going to accomplish. … The biggest thing coming up is this public safety tax election in November. That is absolutely crucial and critical to what the city can continue to do. If that didn’t pass it would be a very bad thing for the city.”

Kneier said he was most proud of the way the city worked together during his mayoral term.

“We set out a number of objectives and worked together to get them done,” said Kneier. “It had to do with being more business friendly, , having design review and planning commission work better with our citizens, and then the capstone was reaching agreement on the lease for Stoneman School so it stays in the community.”

The full story on Wednesday's landmark decision for the Stoneman property’s long-term lease can be found .

Vice-Mayor Richard Sun noted he was not really surprised when he was promoted from councilman to vice-mayor, since the move also followed tradition. Sun had not served as mayor or vice-mayor previously and whoever receives the most votes from the council becomes mayor, while the recipient of the second highest amount of votes becomes vice-mayor.

“It’s a big milestone for myself,” said Sun. “I’m very honored and delighted to serve the great city of San Marino.”

Sun sat down with San Marino Patch back in December for a video Q&A, which can be seen .

One of Sun’s goals, for the city to enter into a long-term lease agreement with the San Marino Unified School District for the Stoneman property, was accomplished at Wednesday night’s meeting.

Sun’s next goal he wants to see come to fruition is for the law governing the Stoneman property to change so the school district can profit from the sale of Stoneman and the city can buy the property.

Sun has been working with local assemblyman to see how the law can be changed.

Plans for City Hall renovations, as presented at Wednesday night’s meeting, are also in the works.

“That’s something I’d love to see completed based on the timeline that was set so we are able to serve our residents much more efficiently and effectively,” said Sun.

The plans proposed Wednesday night were estimated to cost over $800,000 and include a restructuring of the City Hall areas that deal most with the public as well as new floors, furnishings and other renovations.

The San Marino City Council is still reviewing the plans.

ordinarily take place every four years during March of an odd calendar year, but were pushed back to November this year since the county shares the cost of November elections. This will decrease the city’s election costs by about $50,000, according to San Marino City Manager Matt Ballantyne.


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