Scotts Valley City Council’s Aug. 5 meeting just hits different now. That’s because City Manager Mali LaGoe would go on to announce her resignation two days later.
The high school banners debacle seems more like a culmination than a minor small-town kerfuffle to be quickly smoothed-over.
The complaints from Scarborough Ace Hardware owner Mikala Clements about the new business license tax and bike lanes on Scotts Valley Drive come across less as a one-off piece of constructive criticism, more as an indictment of a broader management style or urban planning philosophy.
Scotts Valley Market owner Ron Clements Jr.’s public comment about an increasing number of homeless residents staying over in their parking lot emphasizes growing unease within the business community about changes enfolding across the city.
The fact that several Scotts Valley officials, including the mayor, apologized at length about the decision to remove some banners with photos of graduating Scotts Valley High School seniors to put up 60th Anniversary ones is proof the issue hit a nerve in the suburban enclave. But now it also appears like an effort by Council members to distance themselves from an incredibly unpopular move by an outgoing chief administrator.
Never mind that the banners are not some longstanding tradition, but rather something begun to ease the pain of the graduating class during the Covid-19 era — as seniors couldn’t have a regular send-off due to lockdown measures.
And never mind that the Class of 2026 had their photos fluttering in the breeze longer than the Class of 2025 did, according to one of the detractors.
And never mind that not a single rising college freshman considered it a big enough issue to support their parents’ missives by taking the time out of their lives to call in to the City Council meeting to share their reported hurt.
The point was that the City had promised to leave the banners up through July 4, so that the former SVHS students could bask in their personal moment of Americana glory while participating in the Fourth of July Parade this year.
(An unspoken undercurrent is that, while it was the fault of a prior Scotts Valley government that the popular fireworks display was canned, a few years ago, LaGoe opting to not bring them back is widely seen as her first major faux pas.)
And so, in the eyes of some residents, here was a city manager who lives over the hill in Cupertino (per Rocket Reach) and made $312,370 in total pay (in 2024, per Transparent California), reneging on another thing that makes Scotts Valley unique and special, however recent the ritual.
To be fair, LaGoe was quick to admit fault herself for banners coming down on July 1, as reproduced in meeting minutes.
“I made the decision to switch out the banners in accordance with the City’s Streetlight Banner Policy, which was adopted by the City Council on March 15, 2023,” she said. “The policy states that City event banners are given priority over requests from community groups, and it further states that ‘Banners may be hung for a period not to exceed 60 days.’ At the time I directed staff to switch out a portion of the Senior banners for City banners, the Senior banners had already been displayed for over 70 days. This decision was not intended in any way to lessen the celebration for the High School Seniors, but rather to begin the transition to celebrate the City’s 60-year history, which was a theme of the 4th of July Parade.”
A firestorm had been ignited.
“Graduation banners should be held high from graduation date to the first day of school!! We need to celebrate all of their accomplishments!!” wrote Jessica Ayala on the Santa Cruz Sentinel Facebook page.
“A promise was made to the parents who paid for those banners that they would be up until…July 12th. That promise was not kept and instead of owning that, verbiage from a city ordinance was read out loud instead” Natasha Stefanisko said on the same post.
“Nobody is suggesting this is a catastrophic or life-altering issue. It isn’t. But something doesn’t have to be catastrophic for people to respectfully stand up and say, ‘This wasn’t right, and we should do better,’” wrote Scotts Valley realtor Robert Aldana.
Others saw it as less of a blunder.
“Is this really all the people in SV have to complain about? Geez!” wrote a user named Joyce Ann.
“This is dumb. The banners were first used during the pandemic for that senior graduating class as a special thing for just them. They shouldn’t even be put up anymore,” contributed Stacy Townsend.
“1st world problems,” said Bruce Suba — a comment echoed by Kimberly Collier-McCarthy.
Someone even used a #scottsvalleyproblems hashtag.
The local government has been questioned by some locals who aren’t fans of the multi-family developments that’ve been cropping up around town.
However, what many don’t realize is that, it is because — not in spite — of LaGoe’s leadership that Scotts Valley has been largely protected from the effects of the powerful “Builder’s Remedy” mechanism that has allowed developers to run roughshod over municipal rules in many other California communities. (Though there will be spillover impacts from development that Los Gatos accidentally facilitated by the neighboring community failing to get a quality Housing Element in on time, triggering a slew of such “Builder’s Remedy” projects.)
And Scotts Valley has been making impressive strides to turn around its longstanding legacy as a community that didn’t produce its fair share of affordable housing to help house the state’s population.
In fact, Scotts Valley has seen 70% of the “Very Low” units it’s required to build come on line, and 87% of required “Low” units (though there have been no “Moderate” permits issued and only 35% “Above Moderate”), according to a CalMatters chart that uses California Department of Housing and Community Development data.
Meanwhile, Santa Clara County is at 92% for “Above Moderate,” but a big fat 0% for “Very Low,” “Low” and “Moderate.”
But don’t expect many locals to give LaGoe a departing pat on the back for this major accomplishment (if communities don’t build enough housing, the State can enact severe punishments). If anything, they may see it as a mark against her.
The Press Banner asked LaGoe if she saw parallels in her current life situation with the period when she left the Greater Tahoe Area to come to Scotts Valley.
“The situations are somewhat different,” she said in an email interview. “I left my role as Assistant County Executive Officer at Nevada County because I got married and my family (husband and 2 stepsons) was in the San Jose area, so I moved down here to be with them. It’s similar in the sense that it’s hard for me to leave projects unfinished, and I love the people I work with, so it’s hard to leave those relationships behind.”
LaGoe said she decided to leave the City of Scotts Valley without another employer waiting in the wing.
“I plan to take some time off to de-stress and choose what I want to do next,” she said.
LaGoe is proud of the many things she was able to accomplish while in office.
“The City is much stronger from an operational standpoint, which means that we’ve been able to do important projects for the community like improve the parks, roads, storm drains and City facilities over the past few years,” she said. “We’ve also been able to enhance local services because we have full staffing in all departments, including Police and Recreation. I’m also very proud of the progress made on the Town Center. I know driving by, the site hasn’t changed much, but there has been a ton of work behind the scenes to move the Town Center forward.”
The next step will be for Swenson Builders to return with a final design.
When asked if there was a proverbial straw-that-broke-the-camel’s-back that clinched her decision to resign, she said, “I don’t think there was one specific moment. Stress is something that, as many people experience, builds up over time. We think we’re fine, we’re coping — until we’re not. I’ve been staring down burnout for several months and trying to find a way to recover, but ultimately, I need to take care of myself which at this time means stepping away from this work.”
LaGoe added that it’s been heartwarming to receive emails and messages from community members and staff thanking her for her service to the community.
“It truly has been an honor to serve Scotts Valley, and I am glad that I have had a meaningful impact on so many people through this work,” she said.
