Get to know your 2018 Santa Clarita City Council candidates.

Timothy Ben “TimBen” Boydston

Timothy Ben “TimBen” Boydston is a former Santa Clarita City Council member and Executive Director at the Canyon Theatre Guild. He first served on the council by filling in the vacancy left by Councilman Cameron Smyth in 2006. While he did not run for reelection in 2008, he was reelected to the council in 2012.

During his previous terms he made efforts to remove digital billboards in Santa Clarita.

Boydston and his wife Ingrid have been married for over 20 years and they have one daughter.

Ken Dean

Ken Dean is an interior designer and has served on several city committees.

He believes he can help the city improve transportation and traffic problems faced by residents.

Jason Gibbs

Jason Gibbs is an engineer with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He and his wife Chandra moved to Santa Clarita due to her work at Boston Scientific.

Gibbs is the Deputy Director of West Coast Operations for GP Strategies Corporation and sits on the Measure EE Citizens’ Oversight Committee for the Saugus Union School District.

Gibbs and his wife live in Saugus with their two children

Brett Haddock

Brett Haddock is a former software engineer for eBay who has lived in Santa Clarita his whole life.

Haddock was previously a member of the Canyon Country Chamber of Commerce for 16 years.

Haddock has been active in the community through volunteer organizations such as the Sheriff’s Community Academy and Bridge to Home.

Haddock believes that the City Council should have a policy of transparency. He also believes that traffic in Santa Clarita has become a major issue and that investment in public transport would help solve the issue. He also thinks that Santa Clarita should install a municipal fiber network.

Matthew Hargett

Matthew Hargett is a lifelong Valencia resident and EMT. Hargett earned his EMT certificate at UCLA. He has also volunteered for many organizations such as the Santa Clarita Food Pantry.

Hargett attended Hart High School where he was a class representative and commissioner.

Haggart believes that his job as an EMT has prepared him to help people.

Marsha McLean

Marsha McLean has been on the Santa Clarita City Council since 2002 and currently fills the position of Mayor Pro Tem. She has previously served as Mayor in 2007, 2011, and 2015.

Prior to being on the Santa Clarita City Council, McLean worked for the Los Angeles Police Department, and has also worked at United States Embassies in Tel Aviv and Paris.

McLean founded the S.C.V. Canyons Preservation Committee, which has helped push legislation to receive funds to preserve Whitney and Elsmere Canyons. She also founded the SCV Transportation Coalition to promote transportation projects in Santa Clarita.

Bill Miranda

Bill Miranda is an Air Force Veteran, local business owner, former CEO of the Santa Clarita Valley Latino Chamber of Commerce, author, community leader, and motivational speaker. He currently serves on the Santa Clarita City Council.

Miranda was born in New York City, and has a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master’s degree in management systems.

Miranda has worked for large firms such as Xerox, IBM, and Data General. He has lived in Santa Clarita for 34 years, initially drawn to the area due to the quality of the schools.

Sandra Nichols

Sandra Nichols is a 69-year-old disabled retiree. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public administration, and a master’s degree in public administration from California State University Fullerton.

She aims to protect low-income residents, reduce speed limits on Sierra Highway, address drug problems, and help alleviate the homeless issues faced by the City.

Cherry Ortega

Cherry Ortega is a businessperson, investor, entrepreneur, and American Citizen raised in the Philippines. She grew up in the town of Mapandan Pangasinan. She is a Search Engine Marketing Consultant.

She graduated in 2007 with a Master Degree of Business Administration in Management Consultancy

She is hoping to help tackle the issue of racism. She supports the existing drug court program. She hopes her experience in management consulting will help the city.

Logan Smith

Logan Smith is a 25-year-old resident of Santa Clarita who has lived in Santa Clarita since 2004. He is the youngest candidate for the race this year, and would be the youngest member elected to the Council if elected.

Smith is a progressive looking to run a grassroots campaign without taking money from special interests. He wants to tackle drug, homelessness, and energy issues faced by Santa Clarita. He believes that seniors make up a large number of residents in the SCV and deserve affordable housing based on their fixed incomes.

Prior to running for office, he was the statewide field director for the California Clean Money Campaign which advocated for the DISCLOSE Act in California that passed in 2017

Dianne Trautman

Dianne Trautman is the former Planning Commissioner for the City of Santa Clarita, a business woman, and a volunteer.

Trautman was Planning Commissioner for 12 years. She also served as the Planning Commission’s liaison to the City Arts Advisory Committee.

She has lived in Santa Clarita for over 25 years. Over the years, she has been a proponent of Santa Clarita open space projects, and called for the preservation of the Haskell Canyon Ranch neighborhood.

Trautman is a member of many local committees, such as the Henry Mayo Hospital Ethics Committee. She also volunteers with organizations such as the SCV-Newhall Optimists Club.

Sean Weber

Sean Weber is a local businessman running for City Council. Born and raised in Santa Clarita, Weber is now a Saugus homeowner with interests in the future of the town.

He attended USC Marshall School of Business, Executive Management and served as Chief Information Officer of a large multi-state law firm in California and Nevada.

Weber has a background in business process management, strategy, communications and infrastructure.

Weber would like Santa Clarita to focus more on technology. He believes technology is important for small business, and that the City could focus more on technological infrastructure such as improving internet connections

Laurene Weste

Laurene Weste has served on the City Council since 1998 and currently is the Mayor of Santa Clarita. She has worked to promote parks and recreation areas across Santa Clarita. She hopes that in the future she can help the city acquire more open space.

Weste also hopes to build more roads to help reduce traffic across the valley, create new sports fields, continue the revitalization of Old Town Newhall, establish an open space green belt around the city, and preserve the Santa Clara River.

Paul Wieczorek

Paul Wieczorek has worked for the United States Postal Service for over 30 years. He is running as an Independent.

He believes Santa Clarita is a wonderful place to raise a family with a wonderful Sheriff’s Department. He also believes that the city is becoming overcrowded and believes in Zero Growth for the City.

He would like to reduce the drug and homeless problems in the city. He believes that for the homeless, cities that have built shelters end up saving money compared to cities that utilize more punitive measures. Wieczorek also would like to see a two term limit on City Council so that members don’t become complacent.

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