Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley released a video statement yesterday evening announcing that he will undergo surgery to remove a tumor from his bladder early next month.
“The doctors think that I’ll be fully able to continue to do all my duties as I am right now as mayor of Santa Cruz,” Keeley said in the video message. “So, I might be out of commission for a couple of days, but all is going to be well.”
This is not the first health challenge Keeley has faced in the past year. In December, he stayed in the hospital overnight for Transient Global Amnesia (TGA), a temporary memory-loss condition with no long term effects.
The 73-year-old has been involved in local politics for several decades. He was a Santa Cruz County supervisor from 1988 to 1996 before becoming a California assemblymember and then Santa Cruz County treasurer from 2005 to 2016.
Keeley began his new term in December and is the first directly elected mayor with a four-year term in Santa Cruz. Prior to June of last year, mayors were selected by other city council members for a period of one year.
