From left, Donna Lind, Krista Jett and Steve Clark lead the race for Scotts Valley City Council. (Contributed)

SCOTTS VALLEY >> Donna Lind, Steve Clark and Krista Jett led seven candidates in the Scotts Valley City Council race as of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19. In other Scotts Valley results as of Tuesday:

• The Scotts Valley Fire bond Measure S trailed.
• The Scotts Valley school bond Measure O gained a razor-thin lead with 55.1% in updated vote tallies. The measure needs more than 55% to be adopted.
• The Scotts Valley business tax hike Measure X sailed toward passage with about 72% of the vote.
• Stephanie Espinola, Gary Redenbacher and Erica Turzak led a tight race for three seats on the Scotts Valley school board.

Results are expected to be updated this month. The election must be certified by early December.

Scotts Valley City Council results

The Scotts Valley City Council is a five-member body that creates city laws, sets the city’s budget and oversees the city’s police, fire, parks and community services. The council also appoints members to city, county and regional boards and commissions.

Seven candidates were vying for three seats on the Scotts Valley City Council.

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Donna Lind led the field, followed by Steve Clark and Krista Jett.

If these results stand, then Lind, the lone incumbent in the race, will retain her seat. Clark and Jett will replace Randy Johnson and Jack Dilles, both of whom chose not to run for re-election this year.

Corky Roberson was in fourth place, followed by Mercedes Molloy, John Lewis and Dustin Lopez.

For Lind, who served as a Scotts Valley police officer for more than 40 years prior to first winning a seat on the city council in 2008, this will be her fifth term. She said she looked forward to mentoring the new city council members, with the idea that she would then step away in four years. “All of my adult life I’ve worked for the city of Scotts Valley,” Lind said. “My heart is here. It’s really important to me that we retain the things that make Scotts Valley special and unique.”

She said that some of the challenges facing Scotts Valley include the town center, the state-mandated housing element and replenishing staff that were lost during the Covid pandemic. She added that the city’s parks need some attention, and that she would support programs to better retain the city’s police officers.

Like Lind, Clark is another retired police officer. He served for three decades at the Santa Cruz Police Department, eventually becoming deputy chief. Having never run for office before, Clark said “each day was a new learning opportunity” and that it’s “very humbling” to receive so much support.

He said one of his first priorities would be looking for “creative ways” to address the city’s “looming budget crisis.” He also said he would “give it my all to finally do something with the town center.” “I would like to see this finally take flight,” Clark said, “and I would like to see this be such a positive for Scotts Valley.”

Jett, a registered nurse at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, likewise ran for office for the first time. Rather than raising money from supporters, she focused her campaign on going door-to-door and doing meet-and-greets. “I wanted people to get to know me and my character, and I felt the best way to do that was face-to-face,” said Jett, who left an election night watch party early to tuck her kids into bed.

She said much would depend on the budget, but that she hoped to quickly address “some of these smaller things, like the state of our parks.”

“I’m not wanting to get too excited,” Jett said, but “I’m hoping I can hang on to that lead.”

Scotts Valley resident Grace Chen-Darrow submits her ballot Tuesday with her daughter, Nova, at the Scotts Valley Library voter center on Tuesday. (Kara Meyberg Guzman — Santa Cruz Local)

Scotts Valley Unified School District results

Six candidates were vying for three seats on the Scotts Valley Unified School Board.

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Stephanie Espinola led, followed by Gary Redenbacher and Erica Turzak. Michael Shulman, Mitali Hindia Weiglein and Tuka Gafari trailed.

Redenbacher said one priority would be searching for more funding. He said that the district is close to the bottom statewide in terms of funding per pupil, that the teachers are poorly paid compared to surrounding districts and that the school sports teams generally have “terrible equipment and terrible facilities.”

“Even simple things like a turf field would save us thousands and thousands of dollars in water and maintenance,” said Redenbacher, who spent election night assistant coaching a Scotts Valley High volleyball game.

Another priority, Redenbacher said, was to “make sure there’s better communication with the teachers.” He said some teachers he knows feel the school board doesn’t listen to them.

Espinola could not be reached for comment on election night. Shulman, an incumbent first elected to the school board in 2008, declined an interview.

Measure X – Scotts Valley business tax results

Measure X, which would update the city of Scotts Valley’s business license tax was sailing toward passage in update vote tallies. The measure needs more than 50% to be adopted.

The measure would raise the minimum tax for an annual business license from $90 to $150, and it would create a four-tier rate structure mandating that larger businesses pay higher fees based on annual gross receipts.

Measure X is expected to bring in about $750,000 more in business taxes each year than Scotts Valley now collects, according to a city council staff report. The money would go into the city’s General Fund.

Supporters of the measure, including all seven candidates in the Scotts Valley City Council race, along with the Scotts Valley chief of police, say these funds will help offset an annual budget deficit of some $2 million. The business tax hasn’t been updated since 1992, with no adjustments for inflation over that time span.

No official argument was filed against Measure X.

Measure O – Scotts Valley school bond results

Measure O, which would provide an influx of funds for infrastructure repairs, multipurpose rooms, playgrounds and sports facilities at the four schools in the Scotts Valley Unified School District, was winning, albeit by a razor-thin margin.

Yes on Measure O had 55.1% of the vote as of 4 p.m. Tuesday. The measure needs 55% of the vote to win.

The measure would authorize an annual property tax of about $49 per $100,000 of assessed value for those living within the school district — which covers the city of Scotts Valley and some surrounding areas — to fund $85 million in bonds.

The school district needs about $78.6 million for future projects and another $6.5 million for air conditioners and solar panels, according to an April 2024 Facilities Master Plan.

One main priority is a new track and field at Scotts Valley High School. Tanya Krause, superintendent of Scotts Valley Unified School District, told Santa Cruz Local during the campaign that the track and field was in such poor condition that students were regularly getting injured.

The bond money also could fund multipurpose rooms at the elementary schools, thereby providing a space for indoor lunch, indoor physical education classes, assemblies and parent events.

Measure S – Scotts Valley fire bond results

Measure S, which would fund the construction of a new fire station in Scotts Valley, is also close.

Measure S would authorize an annual property tax of about $17 per $100,000 of assessed value for those living within the Scotts Valley Fire Protection District to fund $24.5 million in bonds.

The “yes” vote had 61.54% of the vote as of 4 p.m. Tuesday. The measure needs more than 66% of the vote to be adopted.

California Proposition 5 would enable Measure S to win with just 55% of the vote. But as of Tuesday, Prop. 5 was trailing.

The Scotts Valley Fire Protection District covers roughly 30 square miles in and around the city of Scotts Valley, including areas that were served by Branciforte Fire Protection District before the districts merged in 2023.

Scotts Valley Fire leaders said the bond money would pay for a new fire station on La Madrona Drive, near the Hilton Hotel. This would replace a decades-old facility on Erba Lane, which has been found to be seismically unsafe.

Scotts Valley Fire District Chief Mark Correira told Santa Cruz Local during the campaign that he was worried the Erba Lane facility could collapse in an earthquake. He also said the new station on La Madrona Drive would reduce response times in the southern end of the district.

The bond money also could be used to fund repairs or to replace Scotts Valley Fire administrative offices. No official argument was filed against Measure S.

A similar bond measure on the ballot in 2023 fell short of the required two-thirds majority by 12 votes.

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