After first-place finisher Donna Lind, the incumbent for Scotts Valley City Council, local voters selected Steve Clark—a retired law enforcer, known for volunteering around town—and Krista Jett—a relatively-young nurse, who’s also a mother—for the dais.
As of Tuesday night, Jett had eaten into Clark’s 130-vote lead for second place shown in early returns. Both hovered above 18%, with Jett trailing by just 103 votes.
But, with 978 ballots separating them from fourth place, their claim on the last two available seats was not in doubt.
Earlier this week, Clark wasn’t quite ready to call it official before the results were certified. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t rolling up his sleeves. He told the Press Banner on Monday he was studying-up on development issues sure to come up at Council.
The newspaper also caught up with Jett just prior to her sit-down with City Manager Mali LaGoe. Jett admitted she was actually a little surprised she won.
“I think I was viewed as one of the underdogs,” she said. “I’m just really grateful to the community.”
Jett said she believed that an event hosted by local realtor Robert Aldana was a pivotal factor in launching her over the top, as was a meet-and-greet hosted by a friend at Cruise Coffee. She remembers feeling the warmth of community embrace, as the days went on.
“You know what? I feel so supported…These people are getting what I’m about,” she remembers thinking as she pounded the pavement. “I put in a lot of time and a lot of hours.”
Jett said her brother—who’s the chief of staff for State Sen. Melissa Hurtado—did assist, a bit.
“My brother came down to knock on doors,” she said, adding, “—just once.”
When she came out toward the top of the pack, he was quick to cheer her victory. “When do you get sworn in?” he asked. He wanted to make sure he could get the time off work to attend.
At that point, Jett was still uncertain she’d actually won. “You’re getting ahead of me,” she couldn’t help but think.
“We’ve always been pretty close,” she said.
Jett doesn’t think there was one particular constituency that launched her into government.
“I think, for different groups, they saw different messaging that resonated,” she said.
She noticed she was getting a good response from women, but also from parents—and people concerned about diversity, equity and inclusion.
Jett said one of the things she’ll focus on first will be the arguably dryer matter of taking a good hard look at City finances.
“For me, it is really important that we have a functional budget,” she said, noting that the more exciting priorities can only happen once that’s “squared away.”
And, she said she’s thrilled that now the make-up of Council is a little closer to reflecting the near-50/50 gender split in town.
“I think it’s really cool that we now have two women on City Council,” she said, noting her interactions with Lind have already proved formative, in particular a conversation they had prior to the election. “I found that time to be really valuable.”
Clark had jury duty on Monday.
He ended up not being needed, and he sounded almost disappointed. It’s not that it would’ve given him a glimpse into the justice system for the first time (the case with many first-time jurors)—as he’s not only been involved for decades in handing out court dates (as a Scotts Valley Police Department officer), but also testified at his fair share of hearings.
But, he said it would’ve been interesting to see cases from a different perspective.
Well, he’s about to get a new lease on civic life, but from the legislative side of things.
“I’m humbled, and I’m honored, really,” he said. “Overall, the campaign was a great experience.”
In an election night interview, Lind, who supported Clark, said one thing that stood out to her this time around was a negative streak you don’t always see in Scotts Valley.
Clark said he tried his best to run a positive campaign.
“The strategy was, just be myself,” he said. “Just be who I am, and let people know the issues that I cared about—and let them know that I’m approachable and I want to hear the things that concern them.”
When asked about those top issues, he started out with one that’s long been close to his heart: public safety. He said he’s focused on “ensuring that Scotts Valley stays a safe community” with its characteristic small-town feel.
Clark added that he’ll be taking a look at traffic (from the perspective of people’s commute time through Scotts Valley), paying close attention to the developments that are slated to come into the community and seeking ways to partner with the Scotts Valley Unified School District and other organizations.
“There’s some crossover, and there’s some areas where we can collaborate,” he said. “Let’s find a way that we can work together.”
