Meeting of South Lake Tahoe City Council, February 10, 2026, Public Communications after the fact.
Let us begin at the beginning. It was uplifting to hear so many folks sending well wishes to Mr. Joe Irvin. It echoed the sentiments of many.
It was disconcerting to hear so many pointed personal attacks on specific councilmembers. The rules for Public Communication specifically say that a public comment be addressed to the entire Council, as opposed to taking that time to express your grievances with any specific councilmember. It may make you feel better to vent, but it doesn’t help the process.
During Public Communications, a speaker who stated she represented an organization called Indivisible was permitted to speak far beyond the four-minute bell, without hesitation by Mayor Bass. I have seen many speakers with obviously important conclusions they worked up to be cut off at the very height of their presentation, especially when someone on Council doesn’t care to hear what they are saying. How is this fair? Well, it isn’t. It is a City Council controlling the narrative. Yes, some of us notice these things.
The Council was challenged regarding improprieties related to a closed session meeting (where the public is not allowed), where matters of litigation were discussed and acted upon, specifically, the appeal court case involving Measure T. City Attorney Heather Stroud indicated that one councilmember had shared information from that closed session meeting to an extent that violated their oath of office and could involve a Grand Jury. Does the public get to know which councilmember broke the rules, or will it remain a buried secret?
Many speakers testified that they had been financially and emotionally harmed by the City’s new ordinance governing vacation home rentals, particularly the poor way in which the reinstated permitting process has been administered. Lack of transparency and communication regarding placement in the queue for previous permittees in good standing and buffering risk was cited over and over again, with the City collecting permit fees and then requiring additional fees to appeal decisions. These testimonials fell on deaf ears.
Much deliberation took place over the options to amend the ordinance governing vacation home rentals, the hottest potato in the room. I question Councilmember Horgan on her approach to this problem, while appreciating her recognition that she was in the hot seat. While she challenged the number of 1,200 for a cap on permitted vacation home permits as being untested and arbitrary, she also threw out a cap number of 900, which is also untested and arbitrary. And while she was able to pull Councilmembers Roberts and Jinkens into her corner, it still resulted in a delay on the decision regarding buffers, which, from public testimony heard, is the bigger issue. In addition, Councilmember Horgan’s suggestions of new buffer numbers were completely arbitrary.
Finally, a few words for Mayor Bass. Even “out of the box”, the idea that neighbors should be given the power to decide which of their neighbors can have a vacation home permit and which cannot is a completely Communist notion, and I hope you regret letting it out of the box.
–Robyn Johnson
Full-time Resident and Registered Voter, City of South Lake Tahoe