Next Tuesday, November 4th is Election Day. I’ve been away for a few weeks, as this is my semester teaching a university course on risk management and strategy for financial institutions in my spare time. I figured that not much would happen while I was out, regarding the upcoming Town Council election. Now it’s 3AM and I’m writing this mostly to catch myself up.
This is mainly because the Town Council seat that is open is just to serve out Mark Eldridge’s seat (Place 4), which he vacated this summer. The term ends in May 2026, when we will have another Town Council election. Yes, the winner will be the incumbent in the May election. But Town Council seats are only for a 3 year term, which means Manu Danny’s seat (Place 3) will also be up for re-election in May 2026.
Larry Allen (Place 5) and George Woodrow Jr. (Place 6) were elected May 2024, so their seats will be up for re-election May 2027.
Ryan Finch (Place 1) and Kevin Clark (Place 2) were elected May 2025 (both ran unopposed!), so their seats will be up for re-election May 2028.
Mayor Saji George was elected May 2025, and the Mayor’s term is for 2 years. The Mayor’s seat will be up for re-election May 2027.
I hope all our Town Council members feel supported enough to carry out their terms. It’s a lot easier for me to comment on the work they’re doing managing the Town than it is for them to actually do it. For the life of me, I do not personally see the appeal of running for Town Council, just to have to do it all over again in 6 months. So right out of the gate I appreciate our two candidates, Holly Garland and Tyler Smothers, for running.
I have met both candidates, both of them seem like very nice people. Tyler has taught and coached for Sunnyvale ISD and had an interesting career path that has led him to having his own business (my memory is faulty here, but I believe Tyler’s in the HVAC industry, as part of a family business?). Holly has experience in auto finance at a large bank for many years, before starting a local business franchise in Sunnyvale (Hounds Town, near the CVS pharmacy and the horse statue my kids like to point out). I don’t know any of the specifics about Tyler’s business, but I will say I’m impressed Holly’s got a 5-star rating on Google Maps, which seems hard to do:
From talking to both candidates, reading Tyler’s website and Holly’s Facebook posts, they both care about
- Improving phone and internet service in the Town
- Responsible and selective growth (saying no to the “Big Box” stores)
- Supporting our schools — both have young kids that go to school here in Sunnyvale ISD.
They both have experience serving in the community. Holly serves on the Chamber of Commerce, and served on the PTA.
There aren’t many areas I can find where they differ, but I will note that Holly is opposed to raising residential property taxes further–she would prefer the Town rely on sales tax growth from Tom Thumb, Freddy’s and other businesses tied to those new developments to build the Town’s revenues. Tyler has noted his experience as a Dallas firefighter, and his intent to support more resources for fire & police, to reduce response times. Tyler also notes his support for capital improvements to build up future growth in Sunnyvale–and given all the capital investments the Town is making in our buildings and our sports fields, this is a timely issue. Not surprising for someone who runs a Hounds Town, but Holly is also interested in ensuring we upgrade our animal shelter facility properly (note: the Town already did allocate funds for that capital project this summer, but there is still a design & implementation phase ahead).
You can look up the campaign finance reports for both candidates here: https://www.townofsunnyvale.org/533/Elections — just scroll down to the “Form CTA” section at the bottom. There you will see that both candidates seem to be raising and spending roughly even amounts–around $2200 by Tyler and $4,000 by Holly (although Holly’s latest report is 3 weeks older than Tyler’s). Holly’s figure does include $3,200 of non-monetary donations for campaign signs, while Tyler only seems to have spent $1,350 for campaign signs…I feel like I see both of their signs all over Town, so at this point I am totally confused on how much a campaign sign is supposed to be worth.
With what I know now, I think we have two very nice choices for this election. Both have been collecting endorsements from people all over the Town, but it’s not clear to me that a vote for one of the candidates will mean a drastically different path for Sunnyvale. In order to better understand the two candidates and their positions on the Town, I’m reaching out to them with a few questions. If they answer, I will post the responses here, side by side so you can compare. If readers have additional questions for the candidates, suggest them in the comment box below–I don’t automatically approve comments because I get a lot of spam attempts, but I will approve real comments promptly.
Questions for Sunnyvale Place 4 Candidates:
- Introduce Yourself Tell us about your background: your profession, family, length of time living in Sunnyvale, and your community involvement.
- Why Run? Both of you are business owners, parents of Raiders, and have served in the community. What are one or two experiences you’ve had in these roles that made you want to improve the way our Town is run?
- Top Issues What are the three most pressing issues facing Sunnyvale today? (e.g., continued warehouse development, traffic, sports fields)
- Managing Growth With the ongoing Comprehensive Plan update (“Imagine Sunnyvale”), how will you balance development, traffic, and preserving our small-town feel?
- Growth Follow-up: Imagine a developer were to offer the Town land for a new Town Hall, with the understanding that in exchange the Town would permit that developer to build high-end condos next to it. How would your background and your view of Sunnyvale’s character inform your response to that offer?
- Budget & Taxes How would you approach the town budget, property taxes, and fiscal responsibility for residents? Your Vision Describe your vision for Sunnyvale in 3-5 years.
- Budget Follow-up: If you had to cut the budget by 5%, how would you approach making that cut (e.g., a specific program you have in mind, or cuts across the board)? What Town spending is “off limits” to you?
- Connect with Voters Where can voters find more about you, in the last week before Election Day? (Website, email, social media, events, phone)
