Badame, Ristow and Hudes lead Los Gatos council race

Planning Commissioner Mary Badame held a commanding lead over Rob Stephenson for a two-year term to fill a vacancy on the Los Gatos Town Council.

With 100% of precincts reporting, Badame received more than twothirds of the vote. Stephenson doesn’t appear to be offput by his defeat, however, as the banner on his campaign website indicates that he’s considering running again in 2022.

For the two four-year seats open on the council, former transportation commissioner Maria Ristow had about 25% of the vote, with Planning Commissioner Matthew Hudes and former Cisco manager of customer listening Heidi Owens close behind with about 24% and 22%, respectively.

About 18% of Los Gatans cast their votes for former planning commissioner Michael Kane, and about 10.5% did so for personnel board member Larry Maggio.

Term limits approved

While the three frontrunners are all fresh faces on the town council, Los Gatans took steps to make sure they don’t overstay their welcome. Measure B, which establishes term limits for town council members, was approved by 83% of voters. The measure requires council members to take a fouryear break after serving two four-year terms.

Los Gatos voters also approved Measure A, which replaces the town’s current Committee and Sales Tax Oversight Committee with a Finance Commission that would advise the Town Council on financial, budgetary and investment matters. Almost 58% of voters opted for the swap.

Monte Sereno council

In Monte Sereno, Rowena Turner and Bryan Mekechuk were the frontrunners among four candidates for two city council seats with about 32% and 28.5% of the votes, respectively. Burton Craig was close behind with almost 27%, while Daniel Labouve trailed with just over 12%.