Carlsbad voters will see a long ballot in November

Carlsbad voters will choose a new mayor, a city clerk, a treasurer, two City Council members and decide the future of the aging Monroe Street swimming pool in November’s election.

The choices are limited for some of the elected positions. The only candidate for city clerk, Sherry Freisinger, is unopposed, although her name will appear on the ballot. The deadline for candidates to qualify for the election was Friday.

The deadline to file for another position, mayor, has been extended to 5 p.m. Wednesday, because the incumbent Mayor Matt Hall did not seek re-election.

So far only two people are campaigning to be Carlsbad’s next mayor. Councilmember Keith Blackburn, a retired police officer first elected in 2008 and reelected in 2020, is running against Michael Curtin, a retired tech executive and first-time candidate.

Hall has said for several years that he would retire at the end of 2022. He was elected to three four-year terms as mayor, preceded by four terms as a council member, for a total of 28 years as a Carlsbad elected official. He also was an appointee on the city’s Planning Commission for 10 years before that.

The city clerk position has been vacant since Barbara Engleson retired in August 2021 to move away from Carlsbad with her husband. She had served in the position for eight years. The City Council decided not to appoint anyone or hold a special election to fill the vacancy, and full-time employees in the office took on the city clerk’s duties temporarily.

Voters defeated a measure the council placed on the June primary ballot that would have switched the city clerk to a full-time appointed position.

The city’s current treasurer, Craig Lindholm, has filed for re-election. He was appointed to the job in 2013, then elected in 2014 and 2018. He was unopposed both times. This time he will face his first opponent, Lance Schulte.

Two of the city’s four City Council districts will be on the ballot, and District 1 has attracted the most interest.

The City Council appointed longtime Carlsbad resident, businessman and consultant Peder Norby to the District 1 seat a year ago, soon after the resignation of former Councilmember Cori Schumacher. Schumacher was facing a possible recall when she left to attend the University of California at Berkley. Norby’s appointment included the condition that he not seek re-election in 2022.

Candidates for the open seat are Anthony Bona, Melanie Burkholder, Cory Geigert, Allen Manzano, DeeDee Trejo-Rowlett and Samuel Ward, according to the city website.

Bona is a frequent council critic who posts short videos on city politics on his YouTube channel “Regular Guy in Carlsbad.” Burkholder is a licensed counselor and businesswoman. She ran for the Carlsbad City Council briefly in 2016 before withdrawing, and in 2020 she was defeated by Tasha Boerner Horvath for the 76th District state Assembly seat. Manzano is a retired U.S. Navy commander. Trejo-Rowlett managers the family-owned business Lola’s Market in Carlsbad. Ward is an attorney and policy advisor.

District 3 has two candidates. Incumbent Priya Bhat-Patel, first elected in 2018, seeks re-election. Her only challenger is Ray Pearson, a Carlsbad Unified School District board trustee.

Only residents living in a district can be candidates in that district or vote for candidates within that district. Carlsbad switched from at-large council elections to the district election system beginning with the 2018 election. The mayor, city treasurer and city clerk continue to be elected be all city voters.

All Carlsbad’s elected positions are considered part-time jobs. The annual base salary is $27,451.32 for the mayor, $26,251.32 for council members, and $12,840 each for the city clerk and city treasurer. They also get retirement options, health insurance, a car allowance and other benefits.

Also on the ballot for all Carlsbad voters in November will be a measure that, if approved, would authorize spending up to $24 million of existing city funds to renovate and expand the Monroe Street pool.

The council placed the measure on the ballot because of a requirement for voters to approve certain construction projects that cost more than $1 million paid from the city’s general fund.