I'll take a stab at that.
If an effort to correct the situation we recently have gone to a full time Mayor.
In the past the city council and mayor were temporary. At one point a few years ago a lady was appointed mayor who was the wife of a prominent attorney. Shortly after being appointed mayor she got a divorce and she came out of the closet as a lesbian. At that point Political Correctness ran amok. It wasn't a pretty sight. We are now in recovery.
Hope this helps.
That's what I tell people who don't think it is worth the bother to vote in local elections. We have a similar situation with our school board here. Primary turnout is typically around 20-25%. The teacher's union had their puppets cross file (D&R ballots) and turn out a significant portion of their machine.
The puppets captured every one of the four Democrat slots and two of the four available Republican slots. So they are guaranteed at least a 2-2 split in the November off-year general election when 40-45% of the electorate will participate.
We are beginning to manage a fairly healthy conservative turnout here in the Pittsburgh suburbs during the presidential and mid-term elections. Unfortunately, that turnout doesn't seem to carry over so well in the odd years when we elect county commissioners, city councils and school boards.