Golding Wades Through Full Day One : Issues: The council agenda weighs in at a hefty 80 items. Arguments include a racial debate over a panel chairmanship.

On her first full day on the job, San Diego Mayor Susan Golding presided over a council meeting agenda Tuesday that included more than 80 issues, nearly half of them late additions--and promised that won’t happen again.

She heard the council accused of racism during a bitter debate over whether the panel’s only black member would be named a committee chairman, then tried to soothe emotions over the contentious issue.

After starting promptly at 10 a.m.--a rarity for a council not known for punctuality--Golding tried to expedite the meeting, but it was still in session long after darkness settled. Two pet projects that she emphasized in her campaign were referred to the city manager’s office for preliminary review. And she was presented with an autographed hockey stick.

Welcome to City Hall, Mayor.

The day after being inaugurated as San Diego’s 32nd mayor, Golding settled into the reality of the job that she will hold for the next four years as she grappled with an unusually demanding docket that she inherited from her predecessor, Maureen O’Connor.

“I didn’t run for office to avoid controversial issues,” Golding said during a brief mid-afternoon break. “I think the council members have conducted themselves with dignity and made their opinions known forcefully, and that’s what this is about.”

At least for Day Two of the Golding Administration, the council members reciprocated the mayor’s praise.

“She has done a fabulous job,” gushed Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer. “With two days of work rolled into one . . . you have to appreciate the organization she’s brought to us.”

The council members welcomed some of Golding’s suggestions for compressing meetings that, in recent years, have become all-day affairs due to excessively crammed agendas and a failure to effectively limit public and council members’ debate.

For example, Golding emphasized that she will not tolerate an agenda such as Tuesday’s, which included nearly three dozen issues added to the docket after the normal weekly agenda has been printed the week before. More effective planning among the city staff, the mayor’s office and the council, Golding said, could avoid similar agenda gridlocks--an idea that drew appreciative nods from several of her colleagues.

At times, Golding’s eagerness to speed along Tuesday’s meeting provided humorous moments. Several times she directed the city clerk to push a button illuminating a vote total board before several members had a chance to register their yeas or nays.

“I’m moving a little fast? All right, I’ll slow down,” a smiling Golding said.

To highlight the importance that she attaches to two campaign pledges, Golding made them her first official proposals Tuesday. The council unanimously voted to refer both to City Manager Jack McGrory for review.

One proposal would set aside a fixed percentage of property tax revenue to hire more police officers, while the other would establish Neighborhood Service Centers that would decentralize City Hall by making a full range of city services available at facilities throughout the city.

“I feel very strongly that we need to decentralize the city government and give greater access to people in the neighborhoods,” Golding said. Such centers, she added, could also offer county and city school services.

Much of Tuesday’s meeting was devoted to an internal council matter that drew an unusual degree of public attention because of the racial overtones that some attached to it: the annual selection of council committee chairmen.

The focal point of this year’s decision was the chairmanship of the council’s Public Services and Safety Committee, which two members coveted, producing a showdown.

Under the temporary procedural rules in effect when the debate began, the chairmanship would have been awarded to Councilman George Stevens, who, as the panel’s current vice chairman, was in line to be elevated to the top slot.

However, Councilman John Hartley, who was in position to be named deputy mayor--a largely ceremonial post rotated annually among the members--preferred instead to head the Public Services and Safety Committee.

That conflict provided an opening to several council members who were not eager to award a chairmanship to Stevens, whose first year at City Hall has been marked by periodic strained relations with colleagues frustrated by what some see as his grandstanding style.

When the council prepared to repeal the temporary rules to clear the way for Hartley’s appointment, Stevens, the city’s only black councilman, and some of his 4th District constituents questioned whether racial motives affected the decision.

The Rev. Sherman Dunmore of the AME Zion Church called the proposed rule alteration “a changing in the middle of the stream which creates a platform of disrespect.” Another constituent was even blunter, arguing that denying Stevens the chairmanship “means only that some members of the San Diego City Council have a racist attitude.”

Stevens echoed similar themes.

“When black people come here and talk about justice, it seems to irk you and bother you,” Stevens told his colleagues. “Well, I want you to know, you’re going to have to get used to us, because we’re here and we want to be heard.”

Denying that race figured into their decision, other council members explained that they objected to any procedural rule that eliminated their discretion by making chairmanship decisions automatic. “Peer review and peer approval” should not be eliminated from the process, Councilman Tom Behr said.

Perhaps the most candid assessment came from Councilwoman Judy McCarty, who underlined the inherently political nature of the appointments by saying: “It’s whether you have the five votes (for a majority). This year, Mr. Stevens doesn’t.”

After the council voted, 6-2, to change the rules, with Stevens and Wolfsheimer in opposition and Councilman Bob Filner absent, the outcome of the chairmanship votes was a foregone conclusion.

By the same margin, the council approved a list of chairmanship recommendations offered by Councilman Ron Roberts. Under that motion, Hartley will become chairman of the Public Services and Safety Committee, Councilwoman Valerie Stallings will lead the Public Facilities and Recreation Committee, and Roberts will head the Transportation and Land Use panel. As mayor, Golding automatically will serve as chair of the council’s Rules Committee.

“Next year, I need the five votes,” Stevens said.