Carlsbad’s new leadership

The 2024 election cycle is thankfully over and we can now all get back to our regularly scheduled lives. In Carlsbad this election and other developments brought some new faces to our community.

District 2

Back in 2022 Keith Blackburn was elected Mayor. He subsequently vacated his District 2 seat on the City Council.  Carolyn Luna was appointed to fill his remaining two years of service.  Carolyn, however, was not eligible to run for election for that seat.  This resulted in an open seat (no incumbent).  In November, Kevin Shin was elected to fill this spot. Kevin is a Veteran of the Marine Corps where he served our country for 13 years.  He has worked as an Orange County fire fighter since 2005, currently serving as a Captain. He also has been a small business owner, having owned and operated a Hawaiian restaurant in Oceanside called The Switchboard Restaurant and Bar. Kevin and his wife live in Carlsbad.  His wife is a Special Education teacher.  They have two school-aged daughters. 

District 4

In District 4 Council Member Teresa Acosta successfully won reelection for the seat she first secured four years ago. Congratulations to Teresa.

City Manager

City Manager is not an elected position, but we are going through a transition none-the-less.  In November, Scott Chadwick was hired by the Port of San Diego as their CEO.  Scott had served as Carlsbad City Manager for seven years.  Before hiring Scott, the City of Carlsbad had seven different city managers in the previous seven years.  Scott brought great stability to our top city leadership.  To fill Scott’s role, the City has hired Geoff Patnoe as our new City Manager.  Geoff was hired by Scott Chadwick as Assistant City Manager for the City of Carlsbad in March, 2020.  Prior to coming to Carlsbad, Geoff was a Director of the San Diego County Office of Strategy & Intergovernmental Affairs for 10 years. Geoff and his wife live in Rancho Peñasquitos and have two daughters.

City Treasurer

Carlsbad City Treasurer, Craig Lindholm, resigned his office in the spring of 2024.  Four candidates ran for this role. Christian Peacox was elected.  Christian is a long-time Carlsbad resident.  He has over 30 years of experience in business and finance. He will fill the remaining two years on Craig’s term. Congratulations to Christian.

Measure B

Measure B was a Carlsbad-specific ballot measure that would update a law on the Carlsbad books since 1982.  The previous law set a $1M limit for any capital improvements projects that the city council could approve on their own.  If a project exceeded $1M, it would require a vote of the public to move forward.  Measure B proposed adjusting that amount to $3.09M.  It also added an annual inflation factor to this amount. Lastly, it exempted from public vote any capital improvement projects for public safety.  Measure B passed with just over 53% of the vote favoring it. These provisions go into effect immediately.