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SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There will be a special City Council meeting on Monday, December 10 at 5:00 p.m.

The councilmembers will officially accept the November 6 election results. Per Elections Code the City Clerk must certify the results of the election to the City Council.

For South Lake Tahoe this means certifying the fact that three councilmembers, Cody Bass, Devin Middlebrook, and Tamara Wallace, won the election along with Sue Blankenship as city clerk, Dave Olivo as city treasurer, and Measure T passed.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Another round of votes were released Friday, narrowing the gap between yes and no on Measure T once again. The citizen generated measure call for a ban of all vacation rentals in South Lake Tahoe except for those in what is called the "tourist core."

49 votes were added to the Measure T count, 19 "for" and 30 "against."

There were approximately 2,600 vote by mail ballots still to count this week for all of El Dorado County which includes provisional ballots and 160 conditionals ballots from South Lake Tahoe.

That leaves about 1,800 left to tally.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Measure T, the South Lake Tahoe ballot measure that proposed a ban on all vacation rentals outside of the tourist core area starting in 2021 is a bit closer to passing.

In the second incremental release of votes counter after Tuesday, November 6, the Yes on T vote is at 3265, with No on T counts at 3207 - less than one percent difference. 267 ballots were tallied in this last release for Measure T.

The gap between the yes and no votes on Measure T in South Lake Tahoe got much smaller, with the measure now passing by just 25 votes. The South Lake Tahoe City Council and El Dorado County Supervisor results remain the same.

El Dorado County had over 24,000 votes to count after election day, and they have now counted 16,919 of them. 1,655 of those were from the City of South Lake Tahoe and 2,907 for the Area 5 Supervisor district.

As a recap, here are the results on election night: http://southtahoenow.com/story/11/08/2018/over-24000-ballots-yet-be-counted-el-dorado-county

Update - 1:20 a.m. 11/7/18: With a large voter turnout the processing of ballots is taking longer than normal. A power outage caused by a car hitting a power line near Blackwood Avenue caused some excitement for voters but did not delay the count as there are procedures in place for such an incident.

Local public safety employees hosted the eighth and final South Lake Tahoe City Council candidates' forum on October 25 at Lake Tahoe Community College.

It was a full house at the event which was hosted by the South Lake Tahoe Police Officers, the California Nurses and the South Lake Tahoe Firefighters associations and gave everyone a chance to hear from the nine candidates about their views before the November 6 election. Each association gave them two questions a piece, plus a couple asked by audience members during the two-hour long forum.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - What started off as baby steps to legal cannabis businesses and regulations in South Lake Tahoe has morphed into a run to a proposed cannabis ordinance that could potentially bring 15 new licenses to town.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - After a referendum to put a halt to the South Lake Tahoe cannabis ordinance was successful, a meeting held Monday was to work through the points of the ordinance Cody Bass and Tahoe Wellness Cooperative took issue with.

Led by the City Council representatives Austin Sass and Brooke Laine, members of the original cannabis workgroup, Cody Bass and some members of the public, about two dozen in total, spent three hours trying to come up direction for the city attorney to use in creating a new ordinance.

On April 18, 2017 the South Lake Tahoe City Council unanimously passed a resolution to do two things: Power the South Lake Tahoe community with electricity provided from 100 percent renewable sources by 2032; and reduce community carbon emissions from baseline by at least 80 percent by 2040. The 100% Renewable Committee was formed to help the City accomplish these tasks.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Each of the nine candidates for City Council answered the same ten questions that were given to them by South Tahoe Now. For nine consecutive days the candidate's responses will be shared in the order received.

Today, Hal Cole gives his responses as he attempts to return to the South Lake Tahoe City Council:

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Each of the nine candidates for City Council answered the same ten questions that were given to them by South Tahoe Now. For nine consecutive days the candidate's responses will be shared in the order received.

Today, the first-time candidate Tamara Wallace gives her responses as she seeks a seat on the South Lake Tahoe City Council:

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Each of the nine candidates for City Council answered the same ten questions that were given to them by South Tahoe Now. For nine consecutive days the candidate's responses will be shared in the order received.

Today, the first-time candidate Devin Middlebrook gives his responses as he seeks a seat on the South Lake Tahoe City Council:

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Each of the nine candidates for City Council answered the same ten questions that were given to them by South Tahoe Now. For nine consecutive days the candidate's responses will be shared in the order received.

Patrick Jarrett shares his thoughts in his quest for a seat on the South Lake Tahoe City Council:

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - As expected, the South Lake Tahoe City Council's discussion of the El Dorado County District Attorney's review of allegations of Brown Act violations made by Councilwoman Brooke Laine in April, 2018 was tense, to say the least.

There ought to be a compromise letting city homeowners rent out their houses to vacationers, but the topic is controversial. The city once felt residents should know what was permissible in their neighborhoods and maintained an online database listing. This has been removed. Maybe residents shouldn't know about rentals allowing 22 guests?

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There are still a few days left for those interested in running for public office this November, but several candidates have completed the process to qualify for the ballot. The following number of seats will be open: El Dorado County Board of Supervisors (1), LTUSD School Board (2) , City Council (3), City Clerk (1), City Treasurer (1), South Tahoe Public Utility District (3), Tahoe Paradise Recreation and Park District, and Lake Tahoe Community College Board of Trustees (3).

The deadline to complete the candidate process is August 10, 2018.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - At their May 1 meeting, the South Lake Tahoe City Council gave direction to the City Attorney's office to draft ordinances to regulate sales, cultivation and distribution of medical and adult-use cannabis.

Consensus at that meeting was to allow for two micro-businesses, two retail businesses, two cultivation businesses up to 5,000 square feet and unlimited testing labs.

At that same meeting, the Council assigned councilmembers Austin Sass and Brooke Laine to an ordinance sub-comittee and they have worked on the ordinance will be voted on Tuesday.

Candidate season has already started for not only the State of California but also El Dorado County.

So far, for the El Dorado County Supervisor representing Meyers, South Lake Tahoe, Tahoma and Pollock Pines (District 5) four candidates have taken out papers.

Current Supervisor Sue Novasel, local businessman Ken Curtzwiler, former Supervisor Norma Santiago, and transportation technology and land use expert Jeffrey Spencer have all taken out papers during the filing period which began February 12.

On Tuesday both the South Lake Tahoe City Council and the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors voted to extend their ban on commercial sales of cannabis as they work out the rules and regulations for their jurisdictions.

The ban on sales in South Lake Tahoe was set to expire on January 25, 2018, and without an extension or ordinance in place, anyone could have applied for a license to sell with the State of California.

This opinion piece has been updated.

"We need the community to get together and collaborate," said SLT Councilman Jason Collin during Tuesday's Council meeting. "Its polarized the community."

Collin was discussing the South Lake Tahoe Vacation Home Rental Ordinance after another full day of a City Council meeting focused on the subject of vacation homes in the community.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The long awaited 11 foot tall bronze sculpture "Spirit of Competition" perched on top of a 4.5 ton boulder was unveiled during a ceremony at Champions Plaza Friday.

Sculptor Gareth Curtiss transported his creation from his studio in Fortine, Montana just two days ago in the back of his van, early Thursday morning the bronze sculpture was picked up with a crane and placed on top of the boulder, bolted in and wrapped up for the ceremony.

Award winning photography by South Tahoe High School (STHS) students is now on display at the Lake Tahoe Airport's art gallery.

Some of the photographers were on hand a reception hosted by the City of South Lake Tahoe and Tahoe Arts Alliance on Monday, the second since the gallery was opened in June of this year. Work of local artists will hang on the walls at the entrance of City Hall at the airport throughout the year and will be rotated quarterly.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Two local residents were appointed to the new Roads Management Authority Commission, but there are still three to five more members needed. At Tuesday's City Council meeting, MaryAnne Brand and Brent Goligoski were appointed to serve on the commission.

Only five applications were received and Brand and Goligoski were the only two of those to appear at the meeting.

"I am ready to vote on several of the applicants today,doesn’t preclude other applicants from staying in the applicant pool," said SLT Mayor Austin Sass.