Candidates for Placerville, South Lake Tahoe City Council races answer key questions
Placerville City Council
Two seats open among three candidates
MICHAEL SARAGOSA
Age: 49
Residence: Placerville
Title/occupation: City Councilmember/Businessowner
Education:
- Master’s degree, legal studies, University of Arizona, 2025
- Bachelor’s degree, philosophy, Azusa Pacific University, 1999
Work experience:
- Owner, Quintana Saragosa Public Affairs, since 2010
- Coalitions Director, Meg Whitman for Governor, 2009
- Undersecretary, State and Consumer Services Agency, 2008-2009
- Director, Employment Training Panel, 2007
- Deputy cabinet secretary/chief deputy appointments secretary, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2003-2006
- Chief of staff, California Legislature, 1999-2003
Civic engagement:
- Chair, Sacramento Area Council of Governments, since 2018
- Director, El Dorado County Transportation Commission, 2018, 2020, 2024
- Director, Pioneer Energy, 2021
- Board Member, El Dorado Continuum of Care, 2022
- Commissioner, Placerville Planning Commission, 2016-2018
- Board member, Placerville Historical Advisory Committee, 2012-2013
What do you believe is the most important issue facing your constituents today, and what will you do to address it?
The most important issues facing our community is the threat of wildfires, homeless encampments, and historical preservation. The threat of a devastating fire is a clear and present danger. We have implemented a new vegetation ordinance to mitigate problem parcels and invested into our Fire Safe Council to try and help homeowners and businesses in city limits. We are now a “Firewise” community, which provides a modest insurance discount, but the more important facet is engaging our community and mitigating fire dangers at the parcel-level. Homeless camps are tied to our fire dangers as illegal camps have outdoor fire rings and propane tanks that can cause fires. We’ve had several close calls, and I thank our firefighters and police officers for their quick responses. We have to eliminate all illegal camps in town. It’s not a matter of if but when an illegal fire causes major damage in our city.
Lastly, Placerville is blessed with an inventory of historical assets. We’ve invested thousands of dollars towards rehabilitating our old city hall (the old “ketchup and mustard buildings”) and entered into a partnership with a local nonprofit to provide a long-term plan focused on the preservation and continued use of the buildings for our residents and visitors alike. We’ve also invested funding into reorganizing our historical asset database and provided some best practices to our planning commission and city council.
There is more work to do, we need to identify more funding sources to update our asset listings and provide detailed guidance to the public when rehabbing historical homes and buildings. Lastly, the idea of a downtown historical district has been an ongoing debate for well over 15 years, and it’s time to get it done.
JACKIE NEAU
Age: 52
Residence: Placerville
Title/occupation: City Council Member
Education:
- Bachelor’s degree, English literature, San Jose State University
Work experience:
- Placerville City Council, since 2020
- Current: Commissioner of El Dorado County Transportation Commission, Board of Director on El Dorado Transit, City liaison to Placerville Fire Safe Council.
- Past board member: El Dorado Local Agency Formation Commission, El Dorado Opportunity Knocks Continuum of Care, City Council Sub-Committee Interview Team
Civic engagement:
10 years on Placerville Recreation & Parks Commission; 10-year board member on Friends of El Dorado Trail; worked to pass Measures H and L in the city to fix streets and pipes; volunteer for many community events including Christmas Trees on Highway 50; National Night Out; Rise & Shine, cleaning up parks; Walk to School Day; received Citizen of the Year award in 2018 from the Placerville Police Department
What do you believe is the most important issue facing your constituents today, and what will you do to address it?
Some of the most pressing issues facing the community are public safety, economic health, and improving the infrastructure.
Public safety: I am currently seeking an MOU with the county for better law enforcement coverage to help mitigate the impacts of the homeless shelter they put in the city limits. I am a liaison to the Placerville Fire Safe Council working on a local level to help residents and I sit on the city of Placerville Community Wildfire Resiliency Strategy Technical Advisory Committee to look at the larger problems surrounding the city that is creating a more opportunities for state grant funding to address fire safe issues.
Economic Health: Nationwide and statewide, larger businesses are closing stores, as well as local businesses are struggling. Over half of the city’s budget comes from sales tax, and continued conversations need to be had to draw in new businesses. The current city council made broadband a priority, and because of those efforts, the city was just recommended to be awarded a $20 million grant from the CPUC to put fiber in parts of the city, which will open new business opportunities.
Improving Infrastructure: Improving the city’s aging streets and pipes is a key issue with residents and has been for decades. Carefully leveraging measure H and L dollars to bring in larger grant opportunities is allowing the city to make great strides in this area. I was part of the campaign efforts for both H and L, doing forward-thinking to solve the city’s biggest problems. This year Broadway is benefiting from those efforts, and starting next year Smith Flat Road, and then Sheridan Street, Sherman Street and Thompson Way.
RYAN CARTER
Age: 47
Residence: Placerville
Title/occupation: Peace Officer
Education: Graduate, El Dorado High School, 1995
Work experience: 22-year veteran state peace officer, since 2001
Civic engagement:
- Current vice chair, Placerville Planning Commission
- Current member, City of Placerville Measure H and L Sales Tax Committee
- Current member, USDA El Dorado County Resource Advisory Committee
What do you believe is the most important issue facing your constituents today, and what will you do to address it?
The city of Placerville is facing a decline in its revenues due to lower sales-tax income and loss of retail stores. I would work to lower the regulatory burden faced by businesses in the city and focus on the vitality of Main Street and our small businesses.
South Lake Tahoe City Council
Two seats open among seven candidates
AIMI XISTRA
Age: 48
Residence: South Lake Tahoe, CA
Title/occupation: Nonprofit Director/Parent
Education: BA Comp Lit/Minor Italian, San Francisco State University, 2005
Work experience:
- Arrived in South Lake Tahoe, 1997
- Snowsports and tourism industries, 1997-2001
- Associate Editor of Action Magazine, Tahoe Daily Tribune, 2005-06
- Public relations, Heavenly Mountain Resort, 2006-10
- Executive director, Heavenly Ski & Snowboard Foundation, 2010-15
- Family-focused: Raising two Barton babies, 2015-22
- Director of development, Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe, 2022-present
Civic engagement:
- Tahoe Chamber Board of Directors since 2022
- Arts, Culture and Tourism Commission, City of South Lake Tahoe, since 2023
- Multicultural Committee, City of South Lake Tahoe, since 2023
- Tahoe Chamber Executive Committee since 2024
- Bijou Area Community Advisory Group since 2024
- Embarc Advisory Group since 2024
South Lake Tahoe, like other cities, faces the challenge of addressing housing needs both in density and cost. What is your vision for the issue of integrating higher-density housing without compromising the city’s existing suburban character?
South Lake Tahoe will debut a new affordable housing complex, Sugar Pine Village, which will be the first collaboration of its kind in the area. This is a huge step to addressing affordable housing. Through community workshops we are educating ourselves on the needs of the community, as well as brainstorming ideas. Our community is in need of more medium sized housing options, that are affordable to our workforce. New dorms will debut at LTCC in 2025, which will enable students another option. We need to seek out additional grants for housing and research more opportunities to expand our efforts.
Do you support Measure N, which would impose a $3,000 tax on homes that are left unoccupied for more than six months in a year.
No, I don’t support Measure N. Homeowners, and second homeowners, are members of our community. Proving you occupied your home is an invasion of privacy. You are guilty, until you can prove you were there. I have elderly family members, in the near future I may have to leave my home to care for them; this worries me that if I choose not to rent my home I will have to pay a tax. I don’t believe that Measure N will create more affordable housing.
What do you believe is the most important issue facing your constituents today, and what will you do to address it?
I want to be a voice for our community, and in turn I’ve listened. Three years ago we were all displaced from our homes due to the Caldor Fire. Our community was scared. We watched our beloved Sierra Resort burnt by these flames. We need to continue to improve our core infrastructure and fix our decrepit roads. Continue to perform defensible space work, support programs that help with this, and keep our Fire Rating low. By making Tahoe more resilient to fire, we will prevent these costs from continuing to increase.
OTHER CANDIDATES
Candidates who did not respond: Keith Roberts, David Jinkens, Nick Speal, Heather Cade-Bauer, Marjorie Green, Caitlin McMahon