For Rocklin City Council, the best choices are one holdover and one newcomer

In Rocklin, voters have a choice of only three candidates for two seats on the City Council.

Jill Gayaldo, who was appointed in January 2017, is worthy of a full, four-year term. A small business owner and community volunteer who is a former transportation director for the Rocklin and Elk Grove school districts, she deserves the chance to establish herself.

In our view, that leaves two candidates vying for the seat that Councilman Scott Yuill is vacating after 12 years – Bill Halldin, former chairman of the local Chamber of Commerce and state Assembly candidate in 2016, and Michele Vass, vice chairwoman of the Rocklin Planning Commission who also ran for City Council in 2016.

Halldin and Vass have similar views on pressing issues, including keeping a close watch on the new Quarry Park Adventures theme park that will be open weekends starting Oct. 13; monitoring traffic and development near Sierra College; and discontinuing the arrangement to share a fire chief with Lincoln.

It’s a close call, but Halldin has lived and worked in Rocklin for 19 years, a decade longer than Vass. He also has broader experience in civic life. Vass can continue to serve the city in her current role.

Yes on Measure A

Voters in this Placer County city of 65,000, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, also will decide whether to extend a special tax for parks development and maintenance until June 2029.

The levy is $30 a year for single-family homes, $20 for apartments and condos, and $10 for homeowners 62 and older. It generates about $600,000 a year.

Measure A requires a two-thirds majority to pass, and it should. As supporters point out, this measure merely continues a tax that was first approved by voters in 1987 and has been renewed every decade since. It’s such a clear call that no ballot argument was filed against this measure.

This story was originally published October 11, 2018 at 1:00 PM.