Imperial Beach City Council appoints Mitch McKay as new mayor

IMPERIAL BEACH (FOX 5/KUSI) — Following a 3 to 1 vote Wednesday night, District 3 Councilmember Mitch McKay will serve the remaining 15 months of former Mayor Paloma Aguirre’s term through the November 2026 election. 

Aguirre's seat became vacant on July 22 following her resignation to become San Diego County District 1 Supervisor.

District 4 Councilmember Matthew Leyba-Gonzalez was the sole "no" vote Wednesday, but he and the rest of council agreed a special election to decide the next mayor would be too costly. 

According to a staff report, a special election was estimated to cost between $250,000 and $400,000. The election would have taken place in April, giving the newly elected mayor between five to six months in office.

“All I’m concerned about is making Imperial Beach a better place on my watch, and ultimately this is a difficult time and our small city does not have funding," said Leyba-Gonzalez.

That same concern was echoed among most of the nearly two dozen residents who spoke at the meeting.

“We are a small city with a small discretionary budget. If we proceed with the election, we will need to cut services impacting our city as a whole," said Imperial Beach resident Erica Lowry.

However, not everyone was in agreement. Some residents who spoke during public comment demanded to be a part of the decision-making process.

“We do not want an appointment to just be made. We want to make sure that there’s at least. if not a special election that there’s an ad hoc committee of citizens and that there’s a forum so that we can ask questions," said Imperial Beach resident Lynne Fischer.

McKay expressed gratitude for the appointment by his colleagues after Wednesday night's meeting and said he’s focusing on the work ahead.

“Obviously, we’ve got some serious problems with the sewage and the secondary problem with our businesses struggling to get along," said McKay.

He’s also mentioned he's planning to work with the county to get things done. 

“With Paloma there, we think we can really make some headway,” McKay added.

He will be sworn in as mayor at the next city council meeting Aug. 20, during which council will also discuss what to do about the remainder of his term as District 3 councilmember.