The 2018 Santa Clarita City Council Candidate Forum featured 13 candidates answering questions given to them by representatives from SCVTV, The Signal and KHTS.

On Monday night, three incumbents and 10 challengers took the stage at The Centre Banquet Hall set to answer questions presented to them by a panel of reporters from the three largest media outlets in Santa Clarita.

All hoping to reclaim their seats this November, Councilmember Bill Miranda, Mayor Pro Tem Marsha McLean and Mayor Laurene Weste shared the opinion that one of the best ways to improve the city would be to increase the Sheriff’s budget.

“My highest priority is keeping you safe, and to keep you safe, we have to keep pace with ever increasing the Sheriff’s budget,” said Weste. “And that means giving them the revenue to keep our kids safe from drugs, which is a crisis in this valley.”

Additionally, most candidates, incumbents and challengers alike spoke on the issue of transportation throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, both now and in the future, when the population of Santa Clarita could reach as high as 450,000 people.

TimBen Boydston, a former Santa Clarita City Council member, said that the way in which the City currently analyzes Santa Clarita traffic patterns by using traffic averages is ineffective and that new roads need to be built in the immediate future.

“We need more roads and we need them badly,” said Boydston. “We need to first do a ‘peak hour’ study to find out where the traffic is the worst and at what time.”

The youngest challenger on stage, Logan Smith, expanded on numerous proposals for housing developments and subsidized public transportation, but stood alone when he expressed his unique plan to combine environmental issues, road congestion and job creation.

Related: 2018 Upcoming Santa Clarita Elections: Meet The Santa Clarita City Council Candidates

“We need to bring good mortgage-paying jobs to Santa Clarita, and I have a day-one plan to do that by enrolling the Los Angeles County Clean Power Alliance,” said Smith. “Like they did up in Richmond, Calif. They just opened a 10.5-megawatt Solar One facility, (with) 250 mortgage-paying jobs that you can never outsource … or drive out to Woodland Hills or Calabasas for.”

Candidate Jason Gibbs took time to praise the past successes of the city, but stated that Santa Clarita needs to do a better job planning for the future or the city runs the risk of developing issues with limited affordability, availability and “opportunities for young families.”

“I see that starting to creep in here. More people have to commute, more families have to have two people working jobs in order to be able to afford their home and make a living (in Santa Clarita),” said Gibbs. “We need to help bring in the infrastructure so that (local business interest groups) can help sell the city and bring more businesses here. We can spend less time on the road, and more time at home with our family.”

Longtime Santa Clarita resident and City Council hopeful Brett Haddock agreed with Gibbs that the Santa Clarita City Council needs to be better at engaging with residents and preparing them for the future.

“I would hate to see a Montecito-level situation where we get a one-two punch: a massive brush fire followed by flooding. And I think we’re very ill-prepared for that,” said Haddock. “My goal is to talk to as many people in Santa Clarita as I can to try and be your voice, your representative and listen to your concerns about what you want for the city.”  

The 2018 Santa Clarita City Council election takes place on Nov. 6, and voters will decide on who will fill three of the five available seats.

Last night’s event featured the following candidates:

• Sandra Nichols
• Bill Miranda
• Marsha McLean
• Diane Trautman
• Sankalp B. Varma
• TimBen Boydston
• Jason Gibbs
• Matthew J. Hargett
• Brett Haddock
• Ken Dean
• Sean Weber
• Logan Smith
• Laurene Weste

KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.