- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Filing period for city council seats closes in Clearlake, Lakeport
Each of the councils have two seats open, with the nomination and filing periods closing earlier this month.
In Clearlake, there are three candidates whose names will appear on the November ballot, according to City Clerk Melissa Swanson.
With Mayor Bruno Sabatier having been elected in June to succeed Jeff Smith as the District 2 representative on the Board of Supervisors, there is one open seat while Russell Cremer, appointed to fill a vacancy earlier this year, is seeking reelection.
Longtime city Planning Commissioner Dirk Slooten also is seeking a seat on the council. Slooten also is a member of the Lake Area Rotary Club Association, or LARCA, and has been instrumental in helping to raise funds for fire relief in Lake County.
The third candidate is Russell Perdock, who resigned from the council in February before the end of his first term to pursue the police chief’s job, which ended up going to Andrew White. It was Perdock’s unfinished term that Cremer was appointed to fill.
Swanson said there were no candidates for the city treasurer job. This year the city clerk job transitions to an appointed position based on the success of a previous ballot measure.
In Lakeport, Mayor Mireya Turner and Councilwoman Stacey Mattina both filed to run for reelection, with no one else submitting paperwork, according to City Clerk Kelly Buendia.
Based on election code, because there are not more candidates than seats, the council can choose to appoint the two incumbents to new terms, according to a report Buendia is taking to the council’s next meeting on Aug. 21.
If the council chooses to appoint rather than hold a general municipal election on Nov. 6, it could save the city between $4,000 and $6,000, not counting staff time, Buendia said.
Turner is finishing her first term, Mattina is now in her second term.
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