Novato Appoints Eric Lucan As New Mayor

NOVATO, CA — The city of Novato has a new mayor.

The City Council on Tuesday night appointed Mayor Pro Tem Eric Lucan as its top elected official.

Lucan will serve his third stint as mayor. He replaces outgoing mayor Pat Eklund.

Councilmember Susan Wernick replaces Lucan as Mayor Pro Tem.

Both were appointed to one-year terms.

“As a Novato native, it really is an incredible honor to serve as Mayor, and I want to thank my Council colleagues for giving me this opportunity again,” Lucan said.

“Our residents are looking for local government to solve issues not just talk about them, to make things simpler not more complicated, and I think we have an opportunity continue to restore faith in local government as we all continue to work together.”

Novato is a “general law” city, meaning its governance structure is determined by state law mandating and its council appoints the city’s top two officials for one-year terms.

The mayor signs official documents, presides at council meetings and acts as the official head of the city at public and ceremonial occasions, but has no additional power.

“I’m grateful to my colleagues for having the confidence to nominate and appoint me as Mayor Pro Tem,” Wernick said.

“I look forward to learning more and having a good year.”

Eklund completed her seventh term as mayor.

“I want to thank all of the councilmembers for the honor of serving as Mayor this past year,” she said.

“Looking back over this past year, I think this Council has worked better together as a team which has allowed us to accomplish a lot. I look forward to continuing to work with all the councilmembers and our new mayor and mayor pro tem.

"I know if we continue this strong connection that we’ve developed, there’s nothing that we can’t accomplish together.”

The council’s next scheduled meeting is Jan. 11.