O’Neill named 2024 mayor, Stapleton as pro tem
By SARA HALL
In the city’s annual changing of the guard meeting this week, Newport Beach City Council unanimously selected Will O’Neill as the 2024 mayor.
Councilmembers voted 7-0 on Tuesday (Dec. 12) for O’Neill to move into the role for the upcoming year.
In two rounds of separate votes, Joe Stapleton was chosen to serve as mayor pro tem, although the decision for the second seat on the dais was not unanimous. Stapleton, along with councilmembers Robyn Grant and Lauren Kleiman, were all suggested for the position. Due to multiple nominations, councilmembers used paper ballots to cast their votes. To be selected, a nominee needs to receive at least four votes, which didn’t happen during the first round of voting. In the second round, two councilmembers changed their votes and Stapleton received a majority in his favor.
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Photos courtesy of City of Newport Beach
(L-R) Newly selected 2024 Mayor Will O’Neill and Mayor Pro Tem Joe Stapleton
After some re-arranging on the dais, O’Neill thanked the voters, his colleagues, and friends and family. It’s a privilege to be on the council and an honor to serve as mayor, he said.
It’s impossible to sit in the seat and not think of his previous stint as mayor in 2020, O’Neill said. When he was selected during the December 2019 meeting, he spoke about his goals and plans, not knowing what the upcoming year might bring and “it brought a lot,” he said.
“I sit here recognizing that I have no idea what this next year is going to bring. But I do know that we are Newport Beach and that brings with it resilience and really high expectations,” O’Neill said. “No matter the events of the coming year, we can and we should remain a beacon of good governance in a swirling world of uncertainty, chaos, and outside policies that undermine public safety and property rights of cities like ours.”
That means staying the course to improve public safety across the board, he said, noting the recent purchase of 1201 Dove St., which could be the potential site for a future state-of-the-art police station. This upcoming year is also the time to expand NBPD’s digital footprint to “help catch those who would prey on our community from outside.”
The city is also slated to replace the fire station and library at the end of the Balboa Peninsula in the upcoming year. He also noted that 2024 will be the first full year of a new ambulance service. They will also soon be cutting the ribbon for the new NB Junior Lifeguard headquarters.
At the time when he was first selected as mayor, he declared 2020 “the year of the volunteer” and had plans for the council to honor local heroes and helpers. Those plans were derailed, he noted, but that year still showed a spirit of volunteerism. He reignited the effort for 2024, asking residents to identify “helpers” in the community that deserve to be honored.
“This is going to be the year we look for the helpers in our community. It’s going to be a year that we recognize and celebrate them too,” O’Neill said.
He kicked off the idea by giving a key to the city, something that hasn’t been done in his seven years on council, to local resident, restaurateur and businessman Mario Marovic.
Marovic has exemplified what it means to be a helper, O’Neill said, and has made an impact in a number of ways throughout the city, including spearheading the recent effort through the Noble Vikings of Orange County to bring Tora the support dog to the Newport Beach Fire Department. Despite having his livelihood threatened by restaurant closures in March 2020, Marovic still helped his employees, low-income seniors and Newport Beach residents when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He was also the Chamber of Commerce 2022 Business Person of the Year.
O’Neill took the position over from Noah Blom.
Blom served as mayor in a notably transitional year with four newly elected councilmembers coming on board in 2023, O’Neill commented. They needed stability and Blom stepped up and led. Meetings have moved efficiently and city business never skipped a beat, he added.
“We are all better having had you as mayor,” O’Neill said to Blom during the reorganization.
On behalf of the city, a gavel plaque (the customary gift for outgoing Newport Beach mayors) was presented to Blom. His fellow councilmembers also gifted him a personalized hammer that states “You nailed it” with his name and mayoral year.
It was an interesting and amazing experience, Blom said. He tried to bring his own understanding of how he runs his business and experiences from his personal life into the role, he added. Governing and being part of the process is more about the call to respond, rather than the need to do it, he said.
“This has been something where I get to add a little bit of my own understanding and know-how about the world,” Blom said, “and hopefully that imparted something on this city that it hadn’t yet had.”
Although the decision for the second seat on the dais, for mayor pro tem, was not unanimous. Stapleton, along with councilmembers Robyn Grant and Lauren Kleiman, were all suggested. Due to multiple nominations, councilmembers used paper ballots to cast their vote. To be selected, a nominee needs four votes. It took two rounds of voting until Stapleton received a 5-2 majority in his favor.