The Piedmont City Council appointed Vice Mayor Bob McBain as its new mayor Tuesday night.
The appointment comes following the resignation of Mayor Jeff Wieler after a social media scandal that sparked outrage from a number of community members. Wieler was accused of making disparaging remarks about a number of groups in Facebook posts he has since removed.
One of his posts called Democrats "slave masters," and another called transgender people "mentally ill."
Kathleen Quenneville said she wasn’t surprised by those comments.
"He has a history of being discourteous, disparaging people he sees as his opponents," she said. "I had no idea he had gone so far with his comments."
Kobi Eshun called Wieler’s comments outrageous.
"It’s hard to separate my political views from my expectations of elected officials running the city," Eshun said.
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On Tuesday night, McBain got the full support of his fellow council members, taking the reins after a rough couple of weeks.
"I thought it was in the best interest of the city for Jeff to resign," McBain said, adding that the city needs to move on. "The response from the community was so strong, so immediate. It was wrong and did not represent the city of Piedmont."
At McBain's request, Wieler also resigned from his City Council seat.
