SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – South Tahoe Now emailed all 13 South Lake Tahoe City Council candidates the same questions so voters could get to know them before deciding on the November 3, 2026 ballot. Responses will be published in the order received along with photos they provided. South Tahoe Now also emailed the two candidates for City Clerk with their own set of questions. Not all candidates replied, so the public will be unable to read their responses.
Name: Kelly O’Haire
How long have you lived full-time in South Lake Tahoe? I have lived in South Lake Tahoe for 23 years. I started out meeting my husband here on weekends, as we worked in different cities. We purchased three homes and sold two homes in the same neighborhood in the City of South Lake Tahoe. We transitioned to full-time, as care for terminally ill parents and work travel allowed.
What is your occupation? Retired City Attorney/Prosecutor/Police Officer/Police Service Aid/Lifeguard
What is your education? Juris Doctorate, San Francisco Law School. Bachelor’s Degree – Pre-Legal Studies, Golden Gate University
What makes you qualified to be on City Council? I believe South Lake Tahoe is at an important time of transition. We need change. This is a time for experienced, professional and trustworthy leadership. I want to help restore faith and confidence in our city government by focusing on competent decision-making, respectful leadership, transparency and the basic responsibility of making City government work well for the people who live here.
For more than 40 years, I have dedicated myself to public service and helping to support thriving communities. I began my professional career as a Police Officer and Police Detective, and I put myself through both college and law school at night while working full time. I served as a Deputy District Attorney, and the head of the sexual assault and child abuse units, as well as the supervising attorney for a large city police department. I have also had a small business where I served as an attorney for other small and large cities, and I worked as the Director of Moral Character for the State Bar of California.
That progression – from police officer, to prosecutor, to attorney working with local governments, to small-business owner – has given me the opportunity to see government from many different perspectives. I know how important good government can be, and I also know how frustrating government can become when it stops working well for the people it is supposed to serve.
That is an important reason I am running for the South Lake Tahoe City Council.
I am the only candidate, other than the elected Councilmembers, who has regularly attended and participated in the City Council meetings over the past three-plus years. I can step-in tomorrow and get to work. I bring the perspective of a long-time government attorney who sees things from all sides, and I can bring new ideas and solutions to the table. I have seen government work well when it uses the right experts to bring new solutions – sometimes those experts are City staff and residents.
The community is ready for a change. I bring a lifetime of government knowledge, professionalism and perspective to the table. I care about the direction the City is going and I am willing to step up for the challenge.
What is your level of understanding of the Brown Act and other council procedures? Do you feel agenda item deliberations could be streamlined?
Brown Act
I have investigated and litigated violations of the Brown Act in court, as the violations can result in criminal charges as violations of the open meetings laws. I have a greater understanding of this area of law than most attorneys, because I have had to know the fine details and case law as a prosecutor. I also served for six years on a city board that followed the Brown Act requirements. Additionally, I have provided pro-bono legal advice to small CSDs, cities and community boards that needed advice and direction regarding potential violations of the Brown Act.
Council Procedures
I have written policy and procedure for other cities, particularly as it relates to council and board procedures and city ordinances. This required substantial legal research and writing. I have done some of this work pro-bono. I have requested to be involved in writing the City of South Lake Tahoe Ethics Policy, as I am the one who requested it be revised and re-written from the 1992 policy that pre-dates social media. Three years ago, I offered to write a draft policy for the City, pro-bono. To date, this policy has not been updated but it is in review with a sub-committee.
Streamlined Deliberations
I have attended most of the City Council Meetings in the past three years. Because the meetings are so long, often City business is not completed or must be moved forward to a future date. This has been a trend occurring in the past four years, based on the make-up of the Council, disagreement, and campaigning of a certain Councilmember’s personal social agenda. Attempts have been made at limiting unnecessary discussion and trying to focus on the issues. I have seen that this extensive discourse and disagreement has also taken its toll on City staff, and I believe it has led to the resignations of good employees. I would make it a priority to revise this process and force compliance by Councilmember(s) who have taken over the meetings. I also believe the behavior of the Councilmembers set the tone and expectations of the public. I have seen this done better elsewhere. I would bring that perspective to the Council. As you can see, I am a very direct, no-nonsense person. I believe there needs to be change and I will bring that change and professionalism to the Council.
Have you ever served on a commission or committee for the City of South Lake Tahoe? If so, what was it? Or, have you served other communities in this capacity in the past? I have served on a number of boards and commissions. I served for six years (3 terms) on one of the first police advisory review boards that served as an appellate board for citizens’ complaints. I wrote the policy and procedure for that new board and served as the Vice President.
I served for six years (3 terms) as the Vice President of a homeowner’s board. I was able to negotiate a legal settlement for the HOA, which had been in litigation with the developer for 10 years. This litigation did not allow the owners to sell their homes, because lenders would not lend on a home in litigation.
I also served for many years on a board for rape victims. That board served two counties and involved counseling, court accompaniment, restraining orders and emergency response to hospitals.
I served as the lead to a Child Victims of Crime Interview Center. I ran the interviews, trained the police officers, nurses, therapists and social workers and helped with all aspects of maintaining this center that later involved a medical examination room. This involved policy work, training, prosecuting the criminal cases in court and case de-briefings. While part of this work was as a prosecutor, much of my time was voluntary work, after hours. People knew they could always call me at home for help.
I have received a number of community awards for my work in these areas.
In South Lake Tahoe, I have provided free legal help to small businesses and residents for 23 years. People bring people to me, as the city has very few lawyers. I have never done this for any recognition, but as a service to the community members.
If you served in previous leadership roles, please name them. Is there anything you wish you’d done differently, and how would you use those lessons on council?
Leadership Roles
I have served in many leadership roles, either as a supervising city attorney, lead prosecutor, police detective, board member, or as an attorney who provides advice to other attorneys and cities. I have always been known as hard-working, and the person most people want on their team. I have spent a lifetime working from the bottom, up. I am a problem-solver, a collaborative worker and I do not use rank over collaboration.
Something Done Differently
Two things come to mind here. First, I served on a board for rape victims (it has a different title today). That board was entirely made up of women. In retrospect, it would have been preferable to have a cross-section of the community, including men on the board. Second, I have served on community boards where some members did not show up to meetings, were not prepared, and did not contribute. Today, I would address the issue directly and look toward replacing them with people who want to show up and participate.
If elected, how do you plan on representing the community? If they don’t attend meetings in person, how will you know what they want? How would you get more citizens engaged?
I think the community is overwhelmingly ready for a change. I think the city has made great progress in some areas, but that is getting overshadowed by the criminal and non-criminal bad behavior of some councilmembers. The areas of great improvement have been roads ($400k in spending v. $4 million in spending in current year) and communications (Knuckledraggers news during the Caldor Fire v. regular City updates now).
I think good people have been reluctant to come forward due to the past behaviors of some of the Council. If we can set up a positive, working government, more people will want to be a part of it. People can still participate by sending in comments to the Council, participating in surveys and making their ideas known. There are many big projects that could use working community committees for guidance and input. I have seen this work well before with the right people, including community experts. Good outreach will be imperative. Last, ideally, a more central meeting place would be ideal and perhaps the 56-acre parcel could be considered for this purpose.
How important is an ethics policy and decorum policy for City Council, and why? What should these policies include?
Decorum
I am the only candidate, other than the elected Councilmembers, who has regularly attended the meetings in person, over the period of two different councils. This is important, because there is much more going on in the room, than if you listen to the meeting on a recording. In part, the public has played a role in the deterioration of the meetings. People talk incessantly throughout the meetings so that others cannot hear. There have also been people who yell out and swear at the Councilmembers and staff, and there is a regularly appearing person who berates the speakers, detracting from their ability to participate. I believe the decorum policy should include not only the Council, but also the public. I am the only candidate that gave ideas and input at the last Council meeting that addressed the policy update. I have also written the Council letters on the subject. The staff recommendation this year was to only make necessary, meaningful updates to the policy. I viewed this differently. The decorum policy was the only way to address these issues, and the current practice was not working. If elected, I would seek to return professionalism to the decorum of the meetings and set a positive example for the community, while requiring that the public also respect the decorum or remove themselves from the room and participate remotely if they cannot do that. I believe the policy sets the tone for the meetings and should be a working policy that holds everyone accountable. Rules need to be in place to prevent agenda items from being side-tracked. Ideally, a Council would not need these rules, and perhaps a new group will do better. That is my hope and part of my purpose.
Ethics Policy
Several years ago, I requested that the City revise its Ethics Policy after I saw a City Councilmember regularly berating other Councilmembers on social media, using the title of “South Lake Tahoe City Council.” This title implied that he was speaking on behalf of the full Council. He was not. The current policy was written in 1992, and the policy pre-dates social media. Furthermore, the policy was intentionally written to not apply to the City Council, but to merely serve as “guidelines.” I have worked in many other cities, where the ethics apply to all employees, council members and board members. It is also used as a means of fining and removing people from office. Because SLT is a general laws city, the state law must be followed in this area, and the strongest remedy would be a censure (reprimand). I have been advocating for that to be in place in this policy, as well as a meaningful social media policy. While you cannot legislate everything, this would be a step in the right direction.
Is there anything in your past that could come to the surface if elected? If so, what is it? No. I have passed many background checks for the positions I have held, including polygraphs, psychological exams, medical exams, background checks and drug testing.
Do you think a councilmember represents the City at all times, and why or why not? I believe that a Councilmember represents the City at all times. I believe this to be true because the members of the public know who the Councilmembers are and they expect them to represent the City in the best light. I have served in many high-profile public positions in which this was the case. It is not only a matter of setting a good example, but also putting the City first at all times.
When council divides up the list of assignments for councilmembers, what boards would you want to sit on and why? I believe many of these assignments are very important to our City. Because the two sitting Council members have served on current boards and have existing important relationships that are good for the City, I would value their input on whether or not they should stay on those particular boards. I have carefully listened to the City Council’s reasoning for these assignments in the past, and I believe the same values still apply: We need to put our people in the best position to make the best decisions for South Lake Tahoe Community. That will be determined by the future make-up of the Council. I am willing to defer any personal interests for the greater good of the community effort. I believe the assignments should be made based upon the particular strengths of the new collective board members (to be determined).
What are the top concerns the council should be focusing on? The City is in the middle of many new projects (mid-town area plan, Regan Beach redevelopment, Tahoe Keys development, former recreation center development, infrastructure upgrades, road redevelopment and stormwater upgrades, to name some). To start, the focus of the new Council should be to bring those projects to a successful conclusion. The Strategic Plan positively reflects many of the other needs of the City: housing, recreation, and transportation improvements, to name some. I would seek to constantly update the Strategic Plan based upon accomplishments and community goals. I would add the following to these shorter-term goals: more roadway improvements; expand upon communications and fire evacuation plans; public safety and roadway safety; including scooters and e-bikes; work with the County to try to obtain the building for the Senior Center; explore options for the 56-acre parcel, including a central City meeting location; and working with major employers to gain contributions toawrd workforce housing.
What is the role of a city council on economic development? Do you think we should be attracting new types of businesses, and if so, what are they? I believe the City’s role in economic development is to assist businesses with processes, paperwork, and to help them succeed. The City has made great improvements in this area with their partnership programs and outreach. In spite of this, a large number of businesses fail. We should study why that is happening and use that data to grow improvements.
I think the City should try to attract stable year-round businesses that would provide a stronger, more stable economic base, with greater employment opportunities for residents. I have spoken about this in the past, as it relates to housing. The cost of everything is high and salaries have not increased with the cost of living, including rents, fire insurance, groceries, etc. We can only have so much impact on these expenses, but we can try to draw in businesses that provide a higher level of income.
What are your favorite things to do in Tahoe? Skiing, beaching and hiking.
Is there anything else you’d like to add? Enough damage has been done. I would like the community to invest in this election and vote for responsible people to move the City forward in a positive way.