Costa Mesa mayor pro-tem Sandy Genis during a city council meeting in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, November 7, 2017 cast the surprise vote which ousted Katrina Foley as mayor and elevated Genis to the role of mayor. Genis had previously supported Foley. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Costa Mesa council member Jim Righeimer during a city council meeting in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, November 7, 2017 put forward a recommendation to reorganize the composition of the city council which would result in the removal of the mayor Katrina Foley. The council voted 3-2 to remove Foley. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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A supporter of Mayor Katrina Foley holds up a sign during a city council meeting in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, November 7, 2017. The city council voted 3-2 to remove Foley from her position as mayor. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley shown during a city council meeting in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, November 7, 2017. Foley was removed from her role as mayor after the council voted 3-2 to elevate mayor pro-tem Sandy Genis mayor. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Costa Mesa city council during a council meeting in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, November 7, 2017. At the end of the contentious meeting the council voted 3-2 to remove Katrina Foley from her position as mayor. Pictured, from left, council member Jim Righeimer, mayor pro-tem Sandy Genis, mayor Katrina Foley, council member John Stephens and council member Allan Mansoor. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Kimberly Claytor of Costa Mesa and a supporter of Mayor Katrina Foley holds up a sign during a city council meeting in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, November 7, 2017. The city council voted 3-2 to remove Foley from her position as mayor. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Costa Mesa council member John Stephens during a city council meeting in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, November 7, 2017, was only council member to vote in opposition to removing Katrina Foley as mayor. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Supporters of Mayor Katrina Foley display signs during a city council meeting in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, November 7, 2017. The city council voted 3-2 to remove Foley from her position as mayor. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Costa Mesa council member Allan Mansoor during a city council meeting in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, November 7, 2017. Mansoor was elevated to mayor-pro pro-tem after the city council voted 3-2 to remove Katrina Foley from her position as mayor. Mansoor voted to remove Foley. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Costa Mesa city council during a council meeting in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, November 7, 2017. At the end of the contentious meeting the council voted 3-2 to remove Katrina Foley from her position as mayor. Pictured, from left, council member Jim Righeimer, mayor pro-tem Sandy Genis, mayor Katrina Foley, council member John Stephens and council member Allan Mansoor. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)



COSTA MESA In the city’s latest example of political gamesmanship, Mayor Katrina Foley was stripped of her position in favor of Sandra Genis, a political ally and until then, mayor pro tem, during a tense, late-night City Council meeting that left residents stunned and angry.

Words such as “traitor” and “turncoat” were shouted at Genis after the council voted 3-2 early Wednesday, Nov. 8, to remove Foley — whose term as mayor was set to expire next year — from her position following more than an hour of public comments.

Foley and Councilman John Stephens dissented. Councilman Allan Mansoor was appointed mayor pro tem.

Genis’ vote about 1 a.m. came as a shock to most in the council chambers, Foley included.

“I’m truly, truly disappointed,” Foley said after the vote. “I wanted us to work together as a team and I’ve done everything … everything in my power to help reach her and to try and make sure I’m addressing her concerns. There’s really nothing else I could do.”

“My children walked neighborhood by neighborhood to help get her elected,” Foley said. “I walked. I invested my personal funds to support her.”

The move was made at the request of Councilman Jim Righeimer, who asked that the matter be put on Tuesday’s agenda.

He also requested that City Attorney Tom Duarte and City Manager Tom Hatch come back to the council with a report on Foley’s actions on the council. He declined during and after the meeting to specify what actions he was referring to.

“There’s situations that the mayor’s got herself into that are going to cause a lot of problems for the city,” Righeimer said after the meeting. “It’s put the city in a bad situation.”

He brushed off accusations of dirty politics, saying he was not running for office again. He will be termed out of his seat next year.

Foley said Wednesday there is nothing to investigate.

“He (Righeimer) just needed something to allude to, to justify his political power grab,” she said. “I confirmed with both the city manager and city attorney that neither have any knowledge of any wrongdoing by me. It’s just politics.”

Stephens said he felt betrayed by Genis’ vote and contended the move to replace Foley violated city code.

Duarte said during the meeting that it was within the council’s purview to appoint a new mayor and mayor pro tem.

Genis has been on the council since 2012, but also served from 1988-96.

After the meeting, she said there has been tension between her and Foley, which was evident in several meetings.

“I think it’s been building for a while,” she said, adding that she did not betray Foley or her supporters.

“I didn’t feel like I in any way betrayed them because I have tried real hard to live up to my campaign promises,” she said, referring to efforts to protect Fairview Park and her support for a voter-approved measure to limit growth in the city.

“I never made a commitment to put in anybody as mayor. It was not, by any means, an easy decision.”

During the meeting, dozens of angry residents praised Foley’s leadership and chastised Righeimer and Duarte.

Supporters held up signs that read “Power Grab,” “We Support Mayor Foley” and “Remember… we vote in 2018 & 2020.”

Foley was elected to the council in 2014, as well as 2004 and 2008. She served as a Newport-Mesa Unified School District trustee in 2010.

She was appointed mayor last year after a shift in power prompted by the failure of then-mayor Steve Mensinger’s re-election bid and the election of Stephens, one of her supporters.

The previous majority of Mensinger, Righeimer and former councilman Gary Monahan favored running the city like a business, outsourcing city services and ushering in large-scale developments.

Foley and Stephens supported careful planning and developments more compatible with the surrounding community. The new council majority even changed Chief Executive Tom Hatch’s title back to city manager.

Foley stated early on that she wanted to bring civility back to a council that had been fractured for years.

“My goal was to try and bring a more inclusive government and to try to bring civility to our council… this evening tonight is a perfect example of what I didn’t want us to have to experience anymore,” she said after the vote.

However, soon after Foley became mayor, she initiated the removal of commissioners from three city panels, including the Planning Commission, to “bring in more diversity of thought to the city’s decision-making process,” causing more friction with Righeimer and Mansoor.

Genis said she took issue with the way Foley sometimes ignored the council’s consensus on certain matters, citing the commission appointments as the first instance.

“That was my monumental screw up,” Genis said, referring to a well-publicized error she made when voting for commission candidates. “At the same time, there was also a very blatant disregard for the procedure that we’d all agreed upon.”

Mansoor, who quarreled publicly with Foley on several occasions, said that while he doesn’t agree with Genis on some issues, he thinks council meetings will be better run under her tenure.

“Sandy is friendly, she treats everyone fair,” he said. “Most important, she’s very respectful to everyone and those are qualities I look for in a mayor.”

Foley’s term as mayor was slated to end next year, when the city moves to a district-election system where a mayor will be elected separately.

She has said she will run next year.

During her remarks at the end of the long meeting, Foley was thanking her supporters when she was interrupted by Righeimer.

“Let me have some dignity,” she told him. “You’ve taken away a lot of my dignity tonight.”