When City Council convenes on January 2, 2008, it will choose its first new president in 14 years. And four of the nine Council members - Adam McFadden, Dana Miller, Bill Pritchard, and Gladys Santiago - are interested in the position.

Although the formal vote is on January 2, Council members say they hope to make a decision within the next week or so. Incoming members Carla Palumbo and Elaine Spaull will vote on the new president, says Council member Carolee Conklin. Current Council President Lois Giess and Council member Bob Stevenson, both of whom are retiring, will not.

Some of those interested began lobbying for the job almost immediately after Giess announced she would not seek reelection. But as of late last week, nobody had the necessary five votes, several Council members said.

One thing is certain: City Council is about to undergo one of the biggest changes in recent memory, and the election of a president is only the beginning.

The new president will have to preside over a relatively green Council. Giess, who has been president since 1994, has been on Council since 1986. Stevenson has served since 1987. Two years ago, Council lost three other longtime members: Brian Curran, Wade Norwood, and Tim Mains.

Attorney Lovely Warren has been on board for only six months. Palumbo and Spaull will come on board in January. All are accomplished individuals, but they will have to get to know their constituents and learn how to work with fellow Council members.

But the biggest challenge for the new president may be deciding what kind of Council the city needs: specifically, what kind of relationship it should have with Mayor Bob Duffy and how much independence the Council will have.

The nine-member City Council is the legislative body of city government and is responsible for oversight of the mayor's management, particularly when it comes to the city's budget and fiscal policies. In her years as Council president, Giess has been praised for being the consummate consensus-builder.

Former Rochester Mayor William Johnson worked with Giess for 12 years. He said she "was very skillful at working with members of Council" and was able to create support for issues.

What she found to be the most important strategy in her role as president, Giess says, was understanding what was important to each of her fellow Council members.

"The new president will quickly see that we each come to Council for different reasons," says Giess.

City Council's public meetings under Giess's leadership often flowed seamlessly, without a lot of dissension. But her quiet, behind-the-scenes leadership has raised questions about whether she has been too close to the mayor's office. Johnson disagrees.

"People would often say that we were a one-party organization, that Council just agreed to whatever we wanted," says Johnson. "But they didn't see the negotiations behind the scenes. There was a willingness, when working with Lois, to find a middle ground."

But attorney Brian Curran, who served on City Council from 1994 to 2005, has a different view. Curran, who was sometimes at odds with his colleagues, would like to see the new president push for greater oversight of the mayor's office. But he says it won't be easy.

"Rochester has a strong-mayor form of government, so automatically he has more public attention and can use that to push his issue forward," says Curran. "But there's always a balance to be struck. I think the pendulum has swung too far in favor of the executive branch. If you voted against something in a City Council meeting, it was as if you did something rude in public. There was something about everyone having to vote unanimously. It was as if there was no initiative for legislation unless it was already a done deal."

When the city made the transition to a strong-mayor system of government, Curran says, it failed to put the mechanisms in place to make City Council fully independent. Council was never given the analytical staff it needed for an oversight role, Curran says.

"Almost all of the staff in City Hall work for the mayor's office," Curran says. "This actively keeps Council members from speaking out, because you don't have easy or complete access to information. You can't make people give you information."

For example, Curran says he did his own projections on the Fast Ferry with what information he could pull together.

"I sat in meetings with the administration while they were saying how they were going to spend the profits from the Fast Ferry," says Curran. "But I knew there was something wrong with the information."

The four candidates interested in succeeding Giess have their own strengths and priorities.

Dana Miller, who was elected to a four-year term in 2005, is one of the five at-large Council members. His low-key temperament may remind people of Giess. Miller heads the Finance and Public Service Committee and he has focused a lot of his attention on increasing economic development, housing, and the needs of the city's neighborhoods.

"There aren't many problems, when you look at Rochester, that aren't connected to the need for more jobs and increased public safety," Miller says.

A graduate of the UR's Simon School of Business, Miller directs development for the Rochester Area Community Foundation.

Bill Pritchard has served four years on City Council and six years on the Planning Commission. He was appointed to City Council in 2003 and elected in November of that year as Council member at-large. Strengthening the legislative branch, Pritchard says, is important to him because issues like the city's housing policy and Zero Tolerance will require firm 2008-2009 budget negotiations with the mayor. Pritchard chairs the Jobs, Economic Development and Center City Committee. He earned his master's in international studies from Old Dominion University and he is director of development for Unity Health.

Gladys Santiago, who was appointed to City Council in 1996 and elected as Council member at-large in 1997, has served the longest of any candidate. Santiago says she has taken time to develop personal relationships with her colleagues. She says job creation is Rochester's number-one problem. But the most important issue facing the city's Latino community, she says, is access to affordable health care. She laments that La Marketa, the 20,000-square-foot retail center envisioned for North Clinton, hasn't come to fruition. She is a graduate of Empire State College.

Adam McFadden, who was elected in 2004 to represent the South District, is the most outspoken member of City Council. He chairs the Council's Public Safety Committee and has been the curfew's most ardent supporter. McFadden says he is unsure if he is ready for the diplomacy required to lead City Council.

"For my style of representation, there is a downside to being president," he says. "There is less independence and I love being able to call a spade a shovel if that's what I think is the appropriate thing to do. And you can't always do that if you're president. You need to have a willingness to hear all of your colleagues out on their positions even if it is not the same as yours."

McFadden graduated from Claflin University.

The next president will have to get at least five votes, and with four of the nine Council members interested in the position, there'll have to be some compromise. But the contest may be narrowed to two. Despite her seniority, Santiago doesn't seem to have the backing of five of her colleagues. And since McFadden concedes that he is only "slightly interested" in the post, Council members may end up deciding between Pritchard and Miller.

But Miller says he wouldn't underestimate Santiago's chances.

"She's been vice president and she is very well-known both in the community and in the administration."

The January 2, 2008 City Council meeting will be televised on cable Channel 12 at 4 p.m. All subsequent monthly City Council meetings will also be televised.