El Dorado election results certified — Turnboo wins; Placerville, South Lake Tahoe seats decided
The El Dorado County Registrar of Voters has certified Election Day results, locking in victories for candidates in key local races, including a tight supervisors race.
With the final votes tallied as of Wednesday, a few elections that had been hanging in the balance are now decided.
County Supervisor, District 2
The Board of Supervisors’ 2nd District seat has gone to George Turnboo, a business owner and pastor who faced off against Cal Fire’s former director and narrowly won.
Less than 1% separated Turnboo from Ken Pimlott, who led the state’s largest firefighting agency up until December 2018. Turnboo took 11,921 votes, while Pimlott took 11,685.
Pimlott conceded the race to Turnboo last week, following an update from elections officials that gave a boost to his challenger.
“Our grassroots campaign has achieved victory,” Turnboo wrote on Saturday in a social media update to his supporters. “A big THANK YOU to everyone who supported our campaign. Our team moves forward now, to help the residents of El Dorado County, California.”
Turnboo is the owner of George’s Pit Stop, an auto shop in El Dorado, and is also the pastor of the neighboring El Dorado Community Church. He will take the seat of Shiva Frentzen, who currently represents the southwestern reaches of El Dorado County, including Cameron Park, Latrobe and Grizzly Flat.
The supervisory race headed to a runoff in March, following a tight race between seven candidates. At the time, Turnboo received 26% of the vote, while Pimlott recieved about 23%, although neither hit the 50% threshold that would have granted victory.
“Although it is not the outcome we were looking for, we were able to highlight critical and important issues, not only for District 2, but for all of El Dorado County,” Pimlott wrote on social media after conceding to Turnboo. “I am heartened by having met so many good people during this process who care about El Dorado County and the people who live here.”
Placerville City Council
Two candidates were elected to Placerville City Council, including a sitting councilman and the acting mayor.
Michael Saragosa, currently the mayor of Placerville, received the most votes in a field of five, taking 19% of the total. He will retain his seat at City Hall.
Jackie Neau, a local volunteer and advocate with a long history of work with the Friends of the El Dorado Trail and service on the city’s Recreation and Parks Committee, eked out a victory by a slim margin.
Neau took 16.55% of the vote, leading Missouri native Tracy Bunch by just 16 votes.
South Lake Tahoe City Council
In a packed field of 10, two winners have emerged in the race for South Lake Tahoe City Council.
Cristi Creegan, the co-owner of Cowork Tahoe, won with 15.69% of the vote.
Next in line was John Friedrich, founder of Tahoe Green Jobs Coalition, with 14.05% of the vote.
The only other candidate to hit double-digit support was national security analyst Scott Robbins, who took nearly 12%.
Creegan and Friedrich will be filling the seats left open by Mayor Jason Collin and Councilwoman Brooke Laine.
El Dorado Hills Community Services District
Two incumbents will keep their seats as directors of the El Dorado Hills Community Services District.
Board President Benjamin Paulsen and Vice President Noelle Mattock will continue to serve as representatives in the unincorporated community.
Mattock received 21.44% of the vote, while Paulsen recieved 20.99%.
Sita Burgess, a registered nurse, came close to unseating Paulsen, receiving 19.05% of the total votes. About 1,100 votes granted Paulsen the win over Burgess.