Dick Riddell this week was named to his fourteenth one-year term as Yucaipa mayor, becoming in the process something of the dean of municipal leaders in the county.

Riddell now stands as the most experienced mayor currently serving in San Bernardino County’s 24 cities.

His seventeen years on the council, while a lengthy tenure, does not make him the longest serving elected municipal official in the region. John Roberts in Fontana, Diane Williams in Rancho Cucamonga, Eunice Ulloa in Chino, Lee Ann Garcia in Grand Terrace, Mike Rothschild in Victoville, and Alan Wapner and Jim Bowman in Ontario have all served on their respective city councils for a term equal or greater than the time Riddell has been an elected official. Rancho Cucamonga city councilman Bill Alexander, who was the city’s elected mayor for ten years, has also logged more time on his city’s council than Riddell has on his. Alexander’s time as an elected official has not been consecutive.

Last year, Terry Caldwell, a longtime councilman and mayor in Victorville, left office after serving 38 consecutive years in office.

No other current mayor in San Bernardino County has logged as many years in a mayoral post as Riddell. In Yucaipa, the mayor is not elected directly but chosen from among the ranks of the council by a consensus of the council. Riddell served as mayor last year and the city council this week returned him to that position.