Marin’s fall election roster stuffed with open seats
The filing period begins Monday for scores of local offices up for grabs in the Nov. 5 general election in Marin.
The nomination period ends at 5 p.m. on Aug. 9, with an extension to Aug. 14 for positions where an incumbent officeholder has not filed.
Marin County Registrar of Voters Lynda Roberts says there is a reason why so many local offices will be in play in November.
“Several years ago local jurisdictions — schools, cities/towns, special districts — were required to move elections from the odd year to the even year to improve turnout,” Roberts wrote in an email. “Most of the jurisdictions in Marin County moved their regularly-scheduled elections to the November general election in even years.”
Senate Bill 415, a state law that took effect in 2017, prohibits local governments from holding an election on any date other than a statewide election date if doing so in the past has resulted in turnout that is at least 25% below average. Statewide elections are held in November of even-numbered years.
The election’s local highlight will be a runoff between Heather McPhail Sridharan, a former Kentfield School District trustee, and Brian Colbert, a member of the San Anselmo Town Council, to determine who will replace Supervisor Katie Rice, who is retiring at the end of her term.
Colbert finished in first place among the five candidates in the March primary with about 43% of the vote. McPhail Sridharan finished second with a little over 26% of the vote.
For the congressional seat representing Marin, Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, is being challenged by Chris Coulombe, a Republican retired Army captain who lives in Sebastopol and co-founded the Cannabis Distribution Association. Huffman received over 81% of the vote in the March primary while Coulombe garnered just over 12% in the five-person contest.
At the state level, Assemblyman Damon Connolly will defend his seat for the first time. Republican Andrew Podshadley of Novato, the owner of Trek Winery, is attempting to unseat him. Connolly received about 81% of the vote in the March primary. Podshadley got just over 11% in the three-person race.
The election will also feature contests in 10 of Marin’s cities and towns for seats on local councils. Other key bodies with incumbents whose terms are ending include the Marin Municipal Water District, the Marin County Board of Education, the Marin Community College District, the Marin Healthcare District and school districts.
The election will also include races for seats on community services districts, fire protection districts, sanitary districts and water districts.
City and town posts
In San Rafael, the terms of Mayor Kate Colin and council members Rachel Kertz and Maika Gulati are ending. The terms of San Rafael’s city attorney, Robert Epstein, and clerk, Lindsay Lara, are also concluding.
Three incumbent council members in Novato must decide whether they will seek re-election: Susan Wernick, Tim O’Connor and Mark Milberg.
Mill Valley also has three council incumbents whose terms are ending: Caroline Joachim, Urban Carmel and James Wickham.
In Larkspur, three seats on the City Council will be in play. The terms of Gabriel Paulson and Scot Candell are ending, and a third seat is available due to the death of councilman Kevin Carroll in March.
Three incumbents on the Sausalito City Council must also decide whether they want to seek re-election: Melissa Blaustein, Janelle Kellman and Ian Sobieski.
In Tiburon, there are two council incumbents whose terms are ending: Holli Thier and Isaac Nikfar.
In Fairfax, the terms of Chance Cutrano, Barbara Coler and Bruce Ackerman are ending.
Belvedere has three councilmembers whose terms are ending: Sally Wilkinson, James Lynch and Nancy Kemnitzer.
Corte Madera has two incumbent council members whose terms are ending: Fred Casissa and Charles Lee.
In San Anselmo, there are three incumbent councilmembers with terms concluding: Eileen Burke, Alexis Fineman and Colbert. Colbert can’t seek re-election because he’s running for supervisor.
Water district boards
Two of the five seats on the Marin Municipal Water District board will be up for grabs. The terms of Larry Russell and Monty Schmitt are ending.
The terms of four of the five members on the North Marin Water District board are ending: Kenneth Eichstaedt, John Baker, Michael Joly and Stephen Petterle.
The terms of three of the five members of the Stinson Beach County Water District are ending: Barbara Boucke, Lance Meade and Sandra Cross.
Education boards
Four of the Marin County Board of Education’s seven trustees — Li Delpan, Patricia Garbarino, Fel Agrelius and Clairette Wilson — must decide whether to run again.
Half of the Marin Community College District’s board members — Philip Kranenburg, Paul da Silva, Crystal Martinez and Stephanie O’Brien — have terms that are expiring.
In San Rafael, the terms of three Board of Education trustees — Mark Koerner, Maureen de Nieva and Marina Palma — are ending.
The Tamalpais Union High School District has two board members whose terms are ending: Karen Loebbaka and Leslie Harlander.
The Bolinas-Stinson Union School District has three board members whose terms are ending: Georgia Woods and Nicolette Hahn.
The terms of three board members in the Miller Creek School District are ending: Francesco Ruggeri, Alissa Chacko and Caitlin McShane.
The Kentfield School District also has three board members whose terms are concluding: Annie Su, David Riedel and Sara Aminzadeh.
The Laguna Joint School District has two board members whose terms are ending: James Lanatti and Diane Rowley.
The Lagunitas School District has two board members whose terms are ending: Richard Sloan and Denise Bohman.
The Larkspur-Corte Madera School District has two board members whose terms are ending: Annie Sherman and Beth Blair.
The Mill Valley School District has two board members whose terms are ending: Elli Abdoli and Michele Hodge.
The Nicasio School District has one board member whose term is ending: Daniel Ager.
The Novato Unified School District has four trustees whose terms are ending: Debbie Butler, Ross Millerick, Julie Jacobson and Gregory Mack.
The Reed Union School District has two board members whose terms are ending: Liz Webb and Jacqueline Jaffee.
The Ross School District has two board members whose terms are ending: Megan Callahan and Kelly Dwinells.
The Ross Valley School District has three board members whose terms are ending: Shelley Hamilton, Rachel Litwack and Daniel Cassidy.
The Sausalito Marin City School District has two board members whose terms are ending: Lisa Bennett and Alena Maunder.
The Shoreline Unified School District has four trustees whose terms are ending: Thomas Tyson, Jill Manning, George Flores and Kylee Lang.
Services districts
The terms of three directors of the Bel Marin Keys Community Services District are coming to an end: Mercy Angelopulos, Cheryl Furst and Christopher Fehring.
The Marin City Community Services District has two directors whose terms are ending: Lynnette Egenlauf and Henry Mims.
The Marinwood Community Services District has three directors whose terms are ending: Lisa Ruggeri, Kathleen Kilkenny and Christopher Case.
The Muir Beach Community Services District has two directors whose terms are ending: David Taylor and Nikola Tede.
The Tamalpais Community Services District has three directors whose terms are ending: Matthew McMahon, Steffen Bartschat and Steven Levine.
The Tomales Village Community Services District has two directors whose terms are ending: David Kitts and Donna Clavaud.
Fire districts
The Bolinas Fire Protection District has three directors whose terms are expiring: Chris Martinelli, William Pierce and Simon Dunne.
The Kentfield Fire Protection District has two directors whose terms are ending: Bruce Corbet and Michael Murray.
The Novato Fire Protection District has three directors whose terms are ending: L.J. Silverman, Michael Hadfield and Shane Francisco.
The Sleepy Hollow Fire Protection District has two directors whose terms are ending: Sharon Adams and Thomas Finn.
The Southern Marin Fire Protection District has three directors whose terms are ending: Cathryn Hillard, Ashley Raveche and Clifford Waldeck.
The Stinson Beach Fire Protection District has three directors whose terms are ending: James Ritchie, Robert Guidi and Jeffrey Walsh.
In the Tiburon Fire Protection District, the terms of Mark Capell and Joy Ho are ending, and there is a third open seat due to a vacancy. Ho was appointed to her seat, so that position has a shorter term than the other two.
Sanitary districts
In the Homestead Valley Sanitary District, the terms of Rick Montalvan, Alan Wuthnow and Joan Florsheim are ending.
In the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District, the terms of Gary Robards, Craig Murray and Barry Nitzberg are expiring.
The terms of two directors in the Novato Sanitary District are concluding: Jean Mariani and Gerald Peters.
In the Richardson Bay Sanitary District, the terms of Mark Slater and Jeffrey Slavitz are ending.
In the Sausalito-Marin City Sanitary District, the terms of William Ring, Donald Beers and Shirley Thornton are ending. Thornton holds a short-term seat.
In Sanitary District No. 5, which oversees service to parts of the Tiburon Peninsula and Belvedere, the terms of three directors are expiring: Richard Snyder, John Carapiet and Omar Arias-Montez.
In the Alto Sanitary District, the terms of Todd Gates, Janis Bosenko and Michael Faust are concluding.
Miscellaneous
In the Bolinas Community Public Utility District, the terms of Kevin McElroy and Kirsten Walker are ending.
In the Inverness Public Utility District, the terms of Dakota Whitney, Brent Johnson and Kathryn Donohue are coming to an end.
In the Mesa Park district in Bolinas, the terms of David Lich and Noah Skinner are ending.
In the Strawberry Recreation District, the terms of Pamela Bohner, Cale Nichols and Christian Michael are concluding. Michael holds a short-term seat.
The terms of three directors in the Marin Resource Conservation District — David Sherwood, Michael Moretti and Terry Sawyer — are ending.
The terms of two members of the Marin Healthcare District board — Ann Sparkman and Edward Alfrey — are coming to an end.