Mountain View City Council has reorganized for the new year. Council members elected the city’s new mayor and vice mayor during the Jan. 9 city council meeting; Pat Showalter, who served as vice mayor in 2023, was elected to replace Alison Hicks as mayor in 2024. Lisa Matichak will serve as vice mayor.
Showalter has been active in the Mountain View and Los Altos communities for quite some time. She served on the Mountain View Environmental Planning Commission for nine years, in addition to being on the boards of the Santa Clara County League of Conservation Voters and Los Altos-Mountain View Area League of Women Voters. She served previously on the council from 2015-2019, and in 2016 she held the mayoral position.
Councilmember Ellen Kamei highlighted Showalter’s dedication to water conservation and the environment through her previous work on council and outside of council as she nominated the now-mayor. She also said Showalter focused on housing during her previous mayoral tenure, which Kamei said Showalter especially took pride in.
“In 2016 with her as mayor, the city increased programs to help homeless residents and continued to move the plans for housing in North Bay shore forward, something we were able to accomplish together on this council,” Kamei said. “I know that she’s particularly proud of that in her first term because over 2,400 housing units were built, with 250 units of those being affordable housing.”
After council members unanimously approved Showalter for mayor, Matichak was unanimously approved to serve as vice mayor. Matichak also served as vice mayor in 2018 and mayor in 2019; her term expires in 2025.
Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga described Matichak as an attentive, diligent council participant with financial knowledge and curiosity.
“Her strongest talent is her attention to detail,” Abe-Koga said. “… She takes copious notes of every meeting, and so whenever I need to remember something, ‘what did we do that meeting, what was the vote,’ I call Lisa, and she has exactly the notes on each meeting that we’ve had. To me it just shows how much she really cares about this community, the work on the city council, and her being a leader here in Mountain View.”
Much of the meeting included pats-on-the-back for accomplishments of previous years, like the California Department of Housing and Community Development approving the city’s housing element, how the city handled the COVID-19 pandemic, and what’s to come.
Council members also thanked city staff for their contributions to the city.
Hicks, who will serve as a council member this year, received recognition for her 2023 accolades. Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian and U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo were unable to attend but sent representatives from their respective offices to relay their gratitude and hope for a successful new year.
