Eight candidates for Tahoe Paradise Resort Improvement District Board

Seven of the eight candidates for the four open seats of the Tahoe Paradise Resort Improvement District (TPRID) Board of Directors were at Thursday's meeting and candidate's forum. The election will be held on November 3.

Vying for the two seats with a two-year term are Jan Roman-Gonzales, incumbent Joseph Cardinale, incumbent Peter Nelligan and Frank Jones.

Candidates for the two seats with a four-year term are incumbent Victor Babbitt, incumbent Judy Klot, Diane Verwoest and Brandi Jordan-Griffith.

Jordan-Griffith did not attend the forum due to a case of the flu.

The candidates answered several questions in a forum format lead by facilitator Brooke Laine.

When asked what their number one priority would be if elected, the seven answered:

Jan Roman-Gonzales - To be financially stable
Joseph Cardinale - To get a project committee and work on getting water to the clubhouse (the clubhouse isn't set up for year-round water currently)
Peter Nelligan - Change the atmosphere around the park; there is a lot of misinformation and he wants to change that
Frank Jones - Bring people back to the park
Victor Babbitt - Be financially solvent and make enough money to do things
Judy Klot - Get grants and funding to get things done. Bring in summer camps.
Diane Verwoest - Young people need a place to go. Improve the baseball field.

Only registered voters living within the Tahoe Paradise district boundaries can vote. The lines were drawn in 1964 when the district was formed, long before many of the homes were built in the area. There are now homes outside of those boundaries whose occupants cannot vote in the election. What used to be done by appointment, the election of board members is a change for TPRID.

One of four remaining resort improvement districts in the state of California, the 57 acre TPRID would always be owned by the residents, though direction of the park would change if they met the same demise as the other districts.

In the meantime, TPRID will have an elected board that will decide how to move forward with an adopted master plan, address budget concerns and plans on how to make the park work best for the community.

County Supervisor Sue Novasel, a member of the TPRID board via her Board of Supervor's obligations, said the current board wanted to hold off until after the elections to adopt a master plan.

TPRID uses $50,000 a year in Measure S funds to cover 70% of their annual budget. They are also sitting on two lump sums of $180,000 and $220,000. The $180k is what remains for capital improvements from a grant that needs to be spent, and the $220k is remainder of what the original Tahoe Paradise developer set aside for park use.

"We've been overly cautious on spending," said Novasel. Measure S funds run out in just five years.