63 Municipal Posts Up For Election In November Race

In November, 63 municipal posts throughout San Bernardino County will be up for election. One of those positions, a council seat in Victorville, is not currently occupied. There are two existing and filled positions on the Colton City Council which are to be consolidated into two others on that panel following the November election and will thereafter cease to exist, as the Colton City Council, which now stands at six council members and the city’s mayor, will be reduced to four council members and the mayor.
While a handful of those incumbents will probably not seek reelection, it is anticipated that the vast majority of those in office who must stand for reelection to retain their positions will do so. With the exceptions of Wade Evans, who was appointed last year to the Needles City Council to succeed Tim Terral; Perri Melnick, who was appointed to the Big Bear Lake City Council in July 2021 to replace Mayor David Caretto; Keron Jones, who was appointed to the Adelanto City Council in June 2021 to replace Gerry Hernandez; Walt Pocock, who was appointed to the Chino City Council in May 2021 to replace Mark Hargrove; Karla Perez who replaced Joe Baca Jr. on the Rialto City Council in 2020 after he was elected to the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors; Corysa Martinez, who was appointed to replace her late mother Trisha Martinez in November 2019; and Brigit Bennington who was appointed in October 2019 to succeed her political rival Jeremiah Brosowske after he was removed from office, those who must face the electorate this year were elected or reelected to the office they hold in the November 2018 election.
In Chino Hills, San Bernardino County’s westernmost city, Ray Marquez in District 1, Peter Rogers in District 2 and Brian Johsz in District 4 must seek reelection or step down from the council in December.
In Chino Second District Councilman Walt Pocock and Third District Councilman Mark Lucio are up for election this year.
In Upland, Councilwoman Janice Elliott must run for reelection to remain as councilwoman in the Second District, Carlos Garcia must seek reelection to remain as the Third District councilman, and Rudy Zuniga must face the Fourth District’s voters to extend his incumbency.
In Montclair, Mayor John Dutrey, Councilwoman Corysa Martinez and Councilman Bill Ruh must face their city’s voters to remain in office.
In Ontario, Mayor Paul Leon and Councilmen Alan Wapner and Jim Bowman, who were elected at large in 2018, must stand for reelection this year to remain on the council. While the city has signaled its intention to move to by-district elections, it will not be doing so until 2024. Consequently, the council contests in November will be the last such at-large elections in the city’s 130-year history.
In Rancho Cucamonga, Mayor Lloyd Dennis Michael along with District 2 Councilwoman Kristine Scott and District 3 Councilman Ryan Hutchinson are standing for reelection this year.
In Fontana, Mayor Acquanetta Warren, District 1 Councilman Phil Cothran Jr. and District 4 Councilman John Roberts are slated for an electoral challenge this year.
In Adelanto, Mayor Gabriel Reyes and council members Stevevonna Evans and Keron Jones are up for election.
In Rialto, incumbents Ed Scott and Karla Perez are due to run for election in November.
In Colton, the city’s seven-member city council is set to contract to five members in this year’s election, going from a council with members in district one through six and a mayor elected at large to a four-member council with a mayor elected at large. That change was effectuated with the passage of Measure R in 2018.
To accommodate the changes made by Measure R, at Colton’s November 2020 election Districts 3, 5 & 6 held contests, but for a two-year term only. Districts 1, 2 and 4 were not up for election in 2020.
Mayor Frank Navarro, who was elected in 2018, appears purposed to seek reelection.
David Toro who was elected to a four-year term in District 1 in 2018 and Earnest Cisneros, who was elected to a four-year term in District 2 in 2018, will need to run against one another and any other candidates who crop up this year in the new District 1 to remain on the council.
Councilmember Kenneth Koperski, who was elected to a two-year term in District 3 in 2020, must run for election in the newly drawn District 2 to remain on the council.
Fourth District Councilman Luis Gonzalez, who was elected to a four-year term in 2018, and Sixth District Councilman Isaac Suchil, who was re-elected to a two-year term in 2020, are running against one another to represent the new District 3.
Councilman John Echevarria, who was elected to a two-year term in 2020, will need to run for election in the newly-created District 4 this year to remain on the city council.
In Grand Terrace, Mayor Darcy McNaboe and Councilman Doug Wilson and Councilman Jeff Allen are due to seek reelection.
In Hesperia, Second District Councilman Bill Holland, Third District Councilman Cameron Gregg and Fourth District Councilwoman/Mayor Brigit Bennington are scheduled to run for office once more.
In Victorville, Mayor Debra Jones will need to seek reelection this year if she is to remain on the council. She will be running in the city’s newly formed District 2. The other member of the council who was elected in 2018 and would be up for election this year, Rita Ramirez, was removed from the city council last year by a majority of her colleagues on the basis that she was no longer living in the city. The remaining members of the council have been unable to agree upon appointing her replacement.
In Highland, the terms of District 2 Councilwoman Anaeli Solano and District 4 Councilman John Timmer are due to end later this year.
In Apple Valley, the at-large terms of Kari Leon, Scott Nassif and Curt Emick will end. The town is going to district elections beginning this year, by which a council representative for the newly-created Districts 3 and District 4 will be chosen and a mayor, elected at large, will be voted into office. In 2019, the council had created a district map with five districts. The changeover to four districts was made earlier this year. It has not been made clear how the map change will impact the eligibility of Leon, Nassif and Emick in this year’s election.
In Redlands, Councilwoman Denise Davis in the city’s District 1 and District 3 Councilman Paul Barich, who is currently serving as mayor, are up for reelection. A race will also be held in the city’s Fifth District, where Paul Foster was reelected to the council four years ago. Foster resigned, effective early this year, and was replaced by Mick Gallagher. Gallagher has said he will not run to remain in office.
In Yucaipa, David Avila is scheduled to seek reelection in District 1 while Greg Bogh, who faced no opposition in District 2 in 2018, must seek reelection to remain on the council.
In Barstow, the terms of District 1 Councilman Tim Silva and District 2 Councilman James Noble will elapse this year.
In Big Bear Lake, Perri Melnick, Randall Putz and Rick Herrick are up for reelection.
In Yucca Valley, James Schooler in District 1 and Merl Abel in District 3 will need to get the endorsement of their constituents to remain on the town council.
In Twentyinine Palms, Dan Mintz, the incumbent in District 3; Karmolette O’Gilvie, District 4’s councilwoman; and McArthur Wright, the city’s District 5 councilman, are due for reelection in November.
In Needles, Mayor Jeff Williams and Councilmen Ed Paget, Wade Evans and Zachary Longacre need to run for reelection to remain as members of the seven-member council of San Bernardino County’s smallest and easternmost city.
-M.G.

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