Saratoga council appoints Belal Aftab as mayor

The Saratoga City Council unanimously voted on Dec. 18 to appoint Belal Aftab as mayor and Chuck Page as vice mayor for 2025.

Aftab had been poised to take on the role of mayor after serving in 2024 as vice mayor, but the council’s decision earlier this year to cancel the election and appoint incumbent council members Tina Walia and Kookie Fitzsimmons to their seats threw a wrench in the selection for vice mayor. Usually, the top two vote-getters in the election are added to the rotation for mayor and vice mayor, but in the absence of a vote count in 2024, the decision was entirely up to the council.

Though the council ultimately voted unanimously to appoint Page to the position of vice mayor, members of the public expressed support for Walia, and Walia herself nominated Fitzsimmons.

Several members of the public cited Walia’s leadership, and others cited her opposition to the controversial expansion of the Saratoga Retirement Center, an issue on which she cast the sole no vote. Still others argued that Walia should be next in the mayoral rotation because she was the top vote-getter in the last city council election in 2022.

“Ignoring the rotation policy and Tina’s 2020 results would compound the mistake of canceling the election and set a troubling precedent,” a resident identified as Mona said at the meeting.

But Aftab nominated Page as vice mayor with support from council member Fitzsimmons, arguing that Walia and Fitzsimmons still have enough time left on their terms to join the rotation.

“There is more than enough capacity within the rotation over the next four years for everybody on this stage to serve as vice mayor and mayor, which I think is a really incredible thing for our city council to get to be able to do,” Aftab said.

Walia, after consulting city attorney Richard Taylor, nominated Fitzsimmons for the position of vice mayor, “in the spirit of staying with the rotation policy,” she said. Walia, who was the top vote getter in the 2022 election, last served as mayor in 2022, and Fitzsimmons was in the head office in 2023.

“Four years ago to the residents of Saratoga, I promised doing things right, and one of those things is – with due respect to Chuck – the rotation policy for mayor and vice mayor. I’d like to respect that,” Walia said. 

But Fitzsimmons declined the nomination. The council then voted unanimously to appoint Page to the vice mayor spot, positioning him to become mayor in 2026. Aftab at the end of the meeting asked council members to consider updating the mayoral rotation policy to allow for the possibility of a canceled election.

The auditorium at the council meeting was packed with attendees, ranging from family and friends of council members who were sworn in to their new positions to other local officials like Congressman-elect Sam Liccardo, who administered the oath of office for Walia, Fitzsimmons, Aftab and Page.

In one of his first remarks as mayor, Aftab thanked his family for their support and asked the attendees of the meeting to stand and give his parents a round of applause.

“I wouldn’t be here without all of you, especially my mom and late father, who have done so much for me and made the decision to move us to Saratoga in 1988,” he said.

The council also thanked outgoing mayor Yan Zhao for her service to the community, and her leadership as the city took on decisions like the approval of its housing element.

“If you look back on your year as mayor, there’s one thing that you can say: We got the doggone housing element done. You can rest on that,” Page said to Zhao.

In reflecting on her time as mayor, Zhao thanked city staff for their professionalism and said she was proud of the work the city has done this year to improve public safety and support local businesses.

“Serving as your mayor has truly been one of the greatest honors of my life,” she said. “I am deeply thankful for the trust and the support you have placed in me over this year. Together, we have faced challenges and celebrated achievements, always with the shared goal of making Saratoga a better place for everyone.”