Politics

Thomas J. Bundros, who served three terms as a Gilroy schools trustee and earned the love and respect of colleagues and constituents for his dedication to his family and schools, died Wednesday after a years-long battle with cancer. He was 67.

Families in the market for a new home could soon have their sights set on Gilroy, as two developments proposing a total of 78 single-family residential lots are slated for construction as early as this summer.

Rural Gilroy residents showed up in droves to the Gilroy City

The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters this week enacted automatic recounts in 10 contests in the county following the Nov. 8 general election, two of which were Gilroy races.Both the Gilroy City Council and Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees had three seats up for grabs. Because of the narrow margin of victory between the third and fourth place finishers in both races, they qualified for the automatic recount. The races’ top two vote getters are not affected.“I don’t think it will swing much, but I don’t know,” said Paul Kloecker, the former councilman who placed third in the current council race. “I will do my celebrating when I get sworn in.”The automatic recounts are based on unofficial semi-final results following the record-setting number of polling place, provisional, and mail-in ballots cast on Nov. 8, when nearly 83 percent of the county’s registered voters took part.In the City Council race, Kloecker received 5,471 votes, 95 more than fellow planning commissioner Tom Fischer, who got 5,376 votes. That is just a 0.24 percent difference, less than the 0.5 percent that triggers an automatic recount as mandated by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors earlier this year.A similar thing happened in the GUSD Board of Trustees race. Third place finisher BC Doyle, a former Navy SEAL, retired GUSD union leader and maintenance worker, received 8,439 votes, or 22.42 percent; while Paul Nadeau, director of operations of the nonprofit Navigator Schools, received 8,387 votes, or 22.28 percent. That is just a 0.38 percent difference.Nadeau, however, dropped out of the race before the election due to a potential conflict of interest because Navigator Schools operates a local charter, Gilroy Prep, which falls under the purview of the GUSD board. But his decision to drop out came too late to get his name removed from the ballot, leading him to garner thousands of votes. Nadeau said he would resign if elected and under the advice of counsel, run at a later time when it did not pose a conflict.The automatic recount, which started on Monday and will continue until the end of the weekend or whenever it’s completed, involves 150 county staff working from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the county registrar of voters office.“This is only the second time automatic recounts have taken place,” said Anita Torres, communications representative for the county registrar of voters.The eight other county races involved in automatic recounts are: Cupertino Union School District Board; Palo Alto Unified School District Board; Los Altos City Council; Monte Sereno City Council; San Jose City Council District 8; Los Altos Hills City Council; city of Santa Clara police chief; and Measure Y in the San Jose Unified School District.Narrow margins of victory, where small number of votes separated the winner from the loser, had become commonplace in small local elections. County supervisors earlier this year felt that, to satisfy voter confidence and offer greater transparency, automatic recounts paid for by the county, would be enacted if certain criteria were met, Torres said.If the contest is in a district within the county and it is not for a state or federal office; and if the margin of victory is within 0.5 percent of the total number of ballots cast or 25 votes, an automatic recount is triggered.The automatic recount as authorized by the Board of Supervisors is limited in scope and involves recounting by hand machine-counted ballots only, said Torres. “A person can see voter intent, whereas a machine would not catch it and mark it as an over- or under-vote.”Before the Board of Supervisors action, a recount would have to be voter-initiated with the costs covered by the candidate.Fourth place City Council finisher Tom Fischer said while he does not expect the recount to change the election outcome, it has been “quite an experience.”The planning commissioner, whose term ends in 2018, said if he does not surpass Kloecker to take the third spot free and clear, he intends to apply for the council seat left vacant when mayor-elect Roland Velasco is sworn in Dec. 12.However, he pointed out, the City Council can decide to bypass the application process altogether and just appoint Fischer as the fourth top vote getter in the council race.“They can pretty much do what they want to fill that seat,” he said.The top vote getters in the City Council race were GUSD Board President, Fred Tovar and incumbent Cat Tucker. In the GUSD Board of Trustee race, Mark Good and James Pace took the top spots.The final results for the Nov. 8 election will be certified by the registrar of voters on Dec. 8, after all manual recounts and audits have been completed.  

This November’s election will be hugely important for Gilroy and for the nation as a whole. Not only will it be a test of our presidential election system, but it will be an opportunity for Gilroy residents to vote for a mayor and three council members of their choice. Mayor Woodward, Cat Tucker, Teri Aulman and Daniel Harney all finish their terms at that time. This is an exciting moment in the history of our democracy. I hope that Gilroy residents will register to vote if they haven’t already, and that all registered voters express their wishes at the polls.

Since October 2013, a group of 25-community members, consultants under a $1.75 million contract with the City and planning staff have been developing Gilroy's vision for growth through the creation of a new 20-year General Plan.

The city's proposed budget released Tuesday would bring an end

With little discussion, a fatigued council approved raises for

Just days after the City of Gilroy released an independent