wendy david

It was a changing of the guard during Monday's South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting. Wendy David moved from her position of mayor pro tem to mayor, and Austin Sass took over the second-in-command duties.

Councilmember Tom Davis, who has served as both mayor and mayor pro tem, was also interested in a fifth term in the pro tem spot but the nod went to Sass.

"South Lake Tahoe, you should be proud of yourself."

Those words, said by South Lake Tahoe Police Sgt. Brian Williams, were echoed throughout the evening as the City of South Lake Tahoe celebrated its first 50 years with a golden anniversary gala Saturday night.

Almost 300 people were at the Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel to share memories of the past, review of the present, and a look towards the future of a city that was formed because many of the residents were tired of being represented by a government in Placerville.

On June 14, 2014, the South Lake Tahoe City Council voted to delay the implementation of the second phase of the plastic bag ban in the city. Originally slated to begin on October 15, 2014, the Council, by a vote of 3-2, moved the start date out one year to October 15, 2015.

Now that the second phase of the ban has started, Mayor Hal Cole wants to revisit that portion of the ban.

Cole said he wants to undo the ban on plastic bags for retail stores and asked for the topic to be on an upcoming agenda.

Residents go to the City for a number of requests, and in order to make sure procedures are followed on those requests, new policies were created Tuesday during the South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting.

A Champions Plaza Recognition Policy was created in order to know how to handle the expected requests for names to be placed at the new venue at the corner of Highway 50 and Lakeview Avenue. The sculpture was selected earlier this summer.

It was another packed house at the South Lake Tahoe City Council's meeting Tuesday, which has been commonplace for all of the meetings and workshops on the contentious subject of vacation home rentals.

In a unanimous vote of 4-0 (Councilman Tom Davis had to recuse himself), the City Council voted to implement an ordinance that addresses three key issues:

Once again, an audience full of mainly Realtors and property managers filled the South Lake Tahoe City Council Chambers as the topic of Vacation Home Rentals (VHR) was on the agenda for discussion.

Renting a vacation home is being increasingly popular in South Lake Tahoe just as in other communities. Many tourists prefer to rent a VHR instead of a traditional motel or hotel room. There are many reasons from enjoying time with family to reunions and wedding parties.

The community is invited to an evening of celebration and honor, maybe a little roasting, and lots of good cheer for Joanne Shope, who has been the backbone of Christmas Cheer All Year for the past 20 years.

The celebration will take place at the Lake Tahoe Golf Course, located at 2500 Emerald Bay Road in South Lake Tahoe, CA.

The facts are startling. El Dorado County has twice the number of suicides than the state average. El Dorado County has 2.5 times the state average of maternity mental issues. The domestic violence rate in El Dorado County is 1.5 times higher than the state average. More people are living in the county with mental issues than ever before.

A day long forum of mental health care providers, agencies, medical professionals and other community members was held in South Lake Tahoe on Thursday in order to find what needs are being met, and unmet, in the area.

The City Council Tuesday formalized the offer on the SW corner lot on Ski Run Blvd and Highway 50. The lot, along with 12,000 square feet of commercial floor area (CFA), was sold for $1.1 million to Halferty Development Company.

The newly elected South Lake Tahoe City Council members, City Clerk and City Treasurer were all sworn in during Tuesday's council meeting.

Susan Alessi was re-elected in November as clerk and David Olivo was retained his seat as treasurer. Both terms are for four years.

Newcomers Wendy David and Austin Sass both won seats on the council and they joined re-elected Tom Davis in the swearing in ceremony.

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.

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

South Tahoe High School has a full day of Halloween activities on Halloween, from costumers during the school day through the final home football game of the season to late night ice skating.

During the School Day

TahoeChamber has endorsed seven candidates for the upcoming election that best portray the values and abilities necessary to serve the South Shore business community. As directed by the TahoeChamber Board of Directors, the TahoeChamber Candidate Endorsement Committee (TC-CEC) used the pillars of the Chamber’s adopted Tahoe Future A South Shore Community Vision 2020 as the foundational criteria for evaluating candidates. The pillars include Economic Vitality, Quality of Life, Sustainability, Infrastructure and Intellectual Capital.

Seven candidates are vying for the three open seats on the South Lake Tahoe City Council in November. Incumbents Angela Swanson, Brooke Laine and Tom Davis are going up against Wendy David, Matt Palacio, Bruce Grego and Austin Sass.

With so many candidates to choose from it will be important come election day to vote for the three you feel can lead the City for the next four years.

With the filing deadline now passed, the list of candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council and City Clerk, South Tahoe Public Utility Board and the Lake Tahoe Community College Board of Trustees is now known. These positions, along with the El Dorado County Supervisor for Area 5 will all be voted by local voters on during the November 4.