votes

The agenda for the South Lake Tahoe City Council was a light one this week.

The plastic bag ban ordinance was amended to only affect grocery stores and not retail outlets. Former Mayor Hal Cole asked for the issue to be brought back before the council in October. "I thought we were only voting to bring the ordinance back for review, not to pass it," Cole said about his vote on October 15, 2013.

Plastic Bag Ban Timeline

September, 2012 - City's Sustainability Committee eyes plastic bag ban

The first Tuesday of November is election day, and today was no different though it went almost unnoticed in South Lake Tahoe. The only item on the ballot for El Dorado County voters at the lake was for the election of four board members of the Tahoe Paradise Resort Improvement District, two for two year terms, and two for four year terms. Only those living within the boundary lines of the district were eligible to both run for office, and to vote.

Sample Tahoe’s newest cocktail creations at the sixth annual Signature Cocktail Contest. Hosted by the Barton Foundation, the community event will take place Wednesday, September 23 at the Riva Grill at 5:30 p.m.

Contest attendees can sample an assortment of cocktails created by Tahoe mixologists who are comprised of bartenders from local establishments, each showcase a unique concoction with Tahoe Blue Vodka and have been known to add less traditional ingredients like cotton candy or potato chips.

The Grand Jury investigated several allegations surrounding voter elected El Dorado County Auditor/Controller Joe Harn, including the fact that he lost the county more than $3.5 million due to incomplete paperwork submitted to the State of California.

The Grand Jury also found that Harn is guilty of disrespectful and harassing behavior toward others. One member of the Board of Supervisors told them, "Everybody knows Joe Harn is a bully. They have known it for twenty years.”

The Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce (Tahoe Chamber) Board of Directors named Roberta Mason and Sherm McKissock honorary lifetime members of Tahoe Chamber for their contributions to the South Shore community. Patrick Atherton was awarded an honorary annual membership. Mason, McKissock and Atherton were presented with honorary memberships at the Tahoe Chamber Board of Directors meeting on March 19, 2015.

Thousands of people have been voting on Facebook for the Northern Nevada Favorite Model's contest over the past several weeks and a South Tahoe High graduate ended up on top, winning by a few hundred votes.

Kelsey Adams, daughter of DR. Steve Adams and Colleen Karcher, has been modeling for several years. She entered the contest for fun, not sure of what to expect.

The readers of USA Today have chosen Carson City as the “best travel worthy state capital in the nation,” officials of the 10 Best contest announced this morning.

The win gives Carson City bragging rights, a nice shot in the arm for local tourism, a national and international spotlight and citywide pride that comes with living in the state capital.

Twenty-one days after the election, the final results have now been certified by the El Dorado County elections department.

The closest race was for the three open seats for South Lake Tahoe City Council. The top vote getter was long time local Wendy David who had 18.05 % of the vote with 1727 residents feeling confident she'd represent them well. Coming in second was incumbent Tom Davis who received 1461 votes, or 15.52% of the vote. Austin Sass moved ahead of incumbent Angela Swanson and ended up with 1318 votes to Swanson's 1289, just .31% difference.

It's been eight days and there is still no official count from last Tuesday's election. With 100% of the precincts counted by 1 a.m. November 5, El Dorado County election employees have been counting the absentee and provisional ballots since then. They released their third report of the count today, showing little change from Friday's numbers.

The results of the first wave of counting the approximate 13,000 absentee and provisional ballots from Tuesday's election were released this evening and just one vote separates two candidates from serving on the City Council or not.

Wendy David.......17.98%.......1271 votes
Tom Davis.........15.48%.......1094 votes
Angela Swanson....13.99%........989 votes
Austin Sass.......13.98%........988 votes
Brooke Laine......13.35%........939 votes
Matt Palacio......12.83%........907 votes
Bruce Grego.......12.22%........864 votes

100% of the ballots from polling locations have now been counted in the El Dorado County and City of South Lake Tahoe elections. The following is the result pending some absentee ballots that still need to be counted.

County Supervisor Area 5

Sue Novasel - 59.92% 3529 votes
Kenny Curtzwiler - 39.58% 2331 votes

City of South Lake Tahoe City Council
Top 3 win a seat

Wendy David 18.00% 1205 votes
Tom Davis 15.56% 1042 votes

Voters in El Dorado County District 5 will be voting for a new supervisor on November 4 and the winner will either be Sue Novasel or Kenny Curtzwiler. The Sacramento Bee's Voter Guide got the candidates wrong as they wrote that Sue's opponent was Kevin Brown.

Before all the votes were counted during June's primary, Brown looked like he was headed to the runoff in November, but ended up in 4th place with 17.61% of the vote. The top two vote getters in June earned a spot on the ballot in November.

Novasel - 1,557 votes 28.47%
Curtzwiler - 977 votes 17.87%
Swanson - 967 votes 17.67%

The seven candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council were at Wednesday nights Candidate Forum at Lake Tahoe Golf Course. The Tahoe Chamber and Tahoe Daily Tribune hosted the evening which had Rabbi Evon Yakar moderating the questions and answers.

About 100 people showed up to listen to panel who were given questions prepared by the chamber's new political committee as well as those asked by the audience. The questions were asked of different candidates so not everyone was asked the same one.

Festival goers will have their say this Labor Day weekend as Sample the Sierra adds a competitive edge to the food and wine festival with the introduction of a new award – Best Tasting Experience! Attendees will vote for the booth that has their favorite flavorful creation that includes fresh ingredients that are prepared by a local chef or restaurant and then paired with regional wine, beer or spirits. The booth with the most votes will be awarded the Best Tasting Experience of 2014.

The results from the June 3rd election are in for El Dorado County Supervisor. Sue Novasel retained her lead by getting 28.47% of the vote (1,557 votes) and Kenny Curtzwiler came from behind and ended up with 17.87% of the vote (977 votes). Kevin Brown from Pollock Pines had the 2nd place lead after the precincts were counted but lost ground on the mail-ins and provisional votes. He ended up behind third place finisher Angela Swanson who was 10 votes behind Curtzwiler.

The top two vote getters move onto the General Election in November.

The final count:

Sue Novasel - 1,557 votes

It may be a couple of weeks until all of the votes are counted for the June 3rd primary, and by the end of it all we may see a different outcome from the one seen Tuesday.

Sue Novasel and Kevin Brown were in the lead after Tuesday's election for the District 5 seat on the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors. Novasel came out on top with Brown coming in second and with the top two vote getters proceeding to the November runoff most assumed it would be those two names they'd see on the ballot.

By 10 p.m. Tuesday, the counted votes were showing a large percentage approving a measure to give greater protection to the state’s open meeting and public records laws by putting them in the state Constitution.

Proposition 42 requires local government compliance with laws providing for public access to local government body meetings and records of government officials.

Mayor Hal Cole summed it up as "the biggest facelift this city has seen in quite some time." In Tuesday's South Lake Tahoe City Council action, the final steps of the Harrison Avenue Project were unanimously approved after 20 years of planning, discussing and talking by the City, business owners, property owners and residents.

The project will start this spring with substantial completion by October 15, 2014. The wrap up of the project will be complete by December 1, 2014.

The Council took five different votes concerning the project:

Ten local dancers will hit the stage for the Tahoe Arts Project's 2nd Annual Dancing With the Tahoe Stars on March 8 at 6:30 pm.

Watch former Mayor Tom Davis, STHS Theater Director Liz Niven, Realtor Klaus Utecht, Director of Tahoe Center for Orthopedics Chris Proctor, Tahoe Tot Spot owner Amy Thompson, Environmental Engineer Eric Taxer, Soroptimist Roberta Benvenuto, Jazzercise Instructor Jodi Stewart, Sierra at Tahoe Director Sean Sweeney and Dental Hygienist Frances Caro as they are paired with professional dancers in a fun competition.

Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort announced that South Lake Tahoe local and professional skier Kyle Smaine will join the Sierra Resort™ Pro Team this season. Smaine was born and raised in South Lake Tahoe and learned to ski at Sierra Resort.

“I’m excited to join the Sierra-at-Tahoe family. I love the mountain. It’s where I learned to ski with my family. The laid-back vibe, and focus on terrain parks have kept my friends and I coming back year after year. It is a natural fit, and I’m excited to shred at Sierra-at-Tahoe this season,” said Smaine.

Lake Tahoe design professional and award winning business owner Linda McCall was recently named Decorator of the Year, the highest design award presented by Decorating Den Interiors, North America’s largest interior design and home furnishings franchise company.

Her winning room makeover featured a dramatically designed family room that featured a warm and elegantly casual enclave that reflected her client’s penchant for an eclectic mix of Nantucket and Asian styles.

The deadline for submittal of applications for one appointed seat on the South Lake Tahoe City Council closed Friday at 5 p.m. and nine applications have been received, City Clerk Susan Alessi reports.

Applicants will be interviewed in the following order at the Special City Council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 29, beginning at 9 a.m. The first interviewee is Howard Bittner, followed by Kathay Lovell, Joan Walthall, Brooke Laine, Bruce Grego, Austin Sass, Billy Crawford, Scott Valentine, and Kay Ogden.

While tragic in nature as to what happened at the Globe event ( I can actually relate to what the parents are going through having lost one of my own) the lawsuits will likely begin. Doesn’t matter who, if anyone, is at fault you can bet there'll probably be one.

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For the first time since 1987, Lake Tahoe has a new regional plan for development and land use.
Twelve of the 14 voting members of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's governing board voted in favor of the new plan, with one member voting against it and another abstaining, according to TRPA spokesman Jeff Cowan.

Business interests say the plan is an overdue overhaul of regulations that will jump-start Tahoe's tourism economy while also protecting its environment.