candidate

During the City Council meeting on January 20, the new council voted to fill spots on four City Commissions.

There was just one spot filled of the required two for the Airport Land Use Commission. Michael Siracuse was appointed to the two year term. Ted Long had applied for the other position but the Council said he didn't meet the experience requirements. The City will look for a qualified candidate to fill the open spot.

In anticipation of the resignation of the county's Clerk/Treasurer Ted Thran, Douglas County is looking for a committee to help find a replacement as well as county residents to fill the position.

Thran resigned in August but was re-elected in November. His second resignation is expected. The term will begin on January 5, 2015.

You've seen the ads, you've heard the commercials and you've read the materials that all lead to your voting on Tuesday, November 4. Tuesday is Election Day!

On the South Shore we have a few different races to decide along with state issues and candidates, and it's not as simple as filling in the bubbles on your ballot.

Most of us moved to Meyers because it's a rural community, away from the City & tourist congestion. I am pro-growth, most locals are, as long as it's appropriately sized growth for our community. The proposed Meyer's Plan however, opens the door to a Mega Resort, with incentives for large development and in my mind, lacks long range planning.

I started going to planning meetings last summer, just to listen, but it wasn't until December that I got really concerned. Here's a timeline of events, from my perspective:

There are less than two weeks left for Californians to register to vote on the November 4 election day. In order to be eligible to vote, one must be 18, a U.S. citizen, are not in prison or on parole for conviction of a felony, or have not been ruled mentally incompetent to vote by the courts.

As a past twenty plus year resident of South Lake Tahoe I feel moved to write this letter to let people know how I feel. I am probably known by name or reputation to quite a few residents. As the founder of The Children's Memorial I worked with many individuals, organizations, businesses etc. to celebrate and remember the lives of children who have died over the years.

Running for elected office is one of the most humbling experiences a person can have. You’re allowing yourself to be scrutinized by your community, people can take shots at your positions, and you have to move forward with calm and ease the entire time. I knew I wanted to make a difference in our community after completing the TahoeChamber’s Leadership Lake Tahoe program, little did I know that I’d be taking action and running for City Council so soon.

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.

The South Tahoe Public Utility District (STPUD) is organizing a Board Candidate Forum for Wednesday, October 8th at 6 p.m. in the District Board Room.

The Forum is open to the public and is an opportunity for the community to come and hear statements from each of the five candidates running for a seat in November: Chris Cefalu, Andy Chapman, James Jones, Shane Romsos and Duane Wallace.

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.

Today Kristen Spees announced the details of her congressional campaign’s Off-Road Ride Across Nevada.

Spees' ride is entirely off-road to promote public access to BLM land. The ride starting September 5th will navigate across Northern Nevada beginning in Dayton, to Sand Mountain, Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park and up to Austin, Nevada. Riders on Off-Highway Vehicles are expected to cover more than 350 miles over 3 days to promote public access to BLM land throughout Nevada.

To promote access and raise awareness on this issue Kristen stated:

Zawadisha, a Tahoe-based global women’s empowerment organization, announced today that South Lake resident and Lean In partner Rayona Sharpnack will be the keynote speaker at its inaugural “Women as Change Makers: Leading and Thriving in the 21st Century,” conference, to be held October 3rd at the North Tahoe Event Center. Sharpnack, the CEO of the Institute for Women’s Leadership, has facilitated women’s leadership trainings for such Fortune 500 companies as Microsoft, Charles Schwab, and Hewlett Packard.

What swept through South Lake Tahoe this past winter (as reported on South Tahoe Now) has morphed into an ice bucket challenge, this time as a fundraiser for ALS. KOLO-TV anchor Sarah Johns and Reno City Councilwoman/candidate for Mayor Hillary Schieve challenged Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval who accepted and has now challenged Nevada's two Senators, Harry Reid and Dean Heller.

There are three seats up for grabs in the November election for the Lake Tahoe Community College Board of Trustees. Trustees from areas 1, 2 and 5 are up for re-election.

Area 1 is currently represented by Kerry David, who has announced his intention to seek re-election. Area 2 is currently represented by longtime Board member Roberta Mason, who is retiring from her seat after 40 years of service to the college. Area 5 is currently represented by Molly Blann, who announced in June that she is not seeking re-election.

The job of Douglas County Manager has been vacant since the departure of Steve Mokrohisky in April. He took the job of County Administrator in Lane County, Oregon.

His replacement has been narrowed down to seven candidates and the public has the chance to meet all of them during a reception on Monday, August 4 at the Carson Valley Inn Ballroom from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Voter will be voting for three City Council members, the City Clerk and City Treasurer on the November 4th ballot in South Lake Tahoe. The filing period opens on Monday, July 14 for all interested City residents who are interested in running for the open seats.

The terms of Council members Angela Swanson, Tom Davis and Brooke Laine will end this fall as well as that of City Clerk Susan Alessi and Treasurer David Olivo.

Thomas "Chad" Houck was named the new Principal of South Tahoe High School during Tuesday's School Board meeting.

Houck, his wife Kelly and their four children will be relocating to South Lake Tahoe during the summer (he starts his home search on Wednesday with Realtor Adele Lucas). His first day on the job will be August 1st.

South Tahoe Now sent a questionnaire out to all of the candidates for El Dorado County Supervisor and Douglas County Sheriff. This is the last of the submitted responses. Candidates Sue Novasel, Kenny Curtzwiler and Angela Swanson were the only County Supervisor candidates to respond, and Douglas County Sheriff candidates Ron Pierini and Dave Brady were the only Sheriff candidates to respond. We thank those that took the time to reply.

1) What do you see as the Number 1 issue facing residents of District 5?

South Tahoe Now sent a questionnaire out to all of the candidates for Douglas County Sheriff. We will be posting them in the order received.

1) What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department?

South Tahoe Now sent a questionnaire out to all of the candidates for El Dorado County Supervisor. We will be posting them in the order received.

1) What do you see as the Number 1 issue facing residents of District 5? Outside consultants, developers and various other alphabet agency’s telling us the same thing over and over again on what we need. The County and community has already done the work on what decisions need to be made with the final decisions being made by the residents of our area.

Be an informed voter on June 3 by attending events that feature the candidates so that you can hear their views and watch them in action.

One such event will be an El Dorado County Supervisor Candidate's Forum hosted jointly by the Tahoe Regional Youth Professionals and the Tahoe Chamber. The two groups will present the forum at the California Conservation Corps on May 6 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Representatives of the TahoeChamber Government Affairs Committee and TRYP will moderate the discussion in hopes to illuminate candidates' stances of key business issues.

The deadline to turn in all required paperwork in the El Dorado County Supervisor race for District 5 is Friday, March 7 at 5 p.m. So far six candidates have provided their "SOQ" Statement of Qualifications. A seventh candidate, Michelle Sweeney, has taken out papers and may still turn them in before Friday's deadline.

With hundreds of new laws every year for the past 45 years, one might wonder if anyone knows them all or can keep track of the changes. There are new laws on the books for both California (800 new laws) and Nevada (45 new laws) that Lake Tahoe residents might want to brush up on.

Here is an overview of some of them:

California

Humor and distinctive footwear shone through in a contest to find a spokeswoman for the Carson Valley. In September, the Carson Valley Visitors Authority announced its nationwide search for a “storyteller on horseback.” Fifteen women answered the call and in video submissions, which ranged from a poetic ode to the Carson Valley to a distinctive pair of pink stilettos, made their case to be the area’s spokeswoman.