Candidates for the OBTC Board: From L to R: Mel Roark, Keith Fink, Kameron J Coleman, Mark Winkie, Robert Stevens, Becca Taylor, Gretchen Newsom, Donna Zoll. Not pictured are Jenn Avoledo, Marin Green and Ron Milford.
Annual elections to the board of the Ocean Beach Town Council begins on Friday, August 28th and continues to midnight September 7th. Those eligible to vote are the members of the OBTC in good standing (dues are paid). Ballots will be emailed out and the electronic voting will begin.
The candidates from another angle. Jenn Avoledo is sitting in corner.
There are 8 seats to be filled and there are 11 candidates. Last night’s OBTC public meeting included a Candidates’ Forum where the the candidates were introduced. Those who were present gave brief speeches and the couple absent had their statements read. You can read their statements on the OBTC website.
Here is a very brief note on each candidate (in the order pictured above):
Mel Roark – current former President of the OB Woman’s Club.
Keith Fink – long-time resident, always volunteering for OBTC events, works at USD and was on the BOD of EarthWorks for 15 years.
Kameron Coleman – grew up in OB, has volunteered for many projects.
Mark Winkie – small business owner for 15 years, just moved back to OB.
Robert Stevens – resident of OB for 6 years, currently Lt in Navy, about to retire from Navy in 2 weeks.
Becca Taylor – current Board member, co-chair of Community Relations; moved to OB 10 years ago while in Navy.
Gretchen Newsom – current Board President for past 2 years, been on board for 4 years.
Donna Zoll – Current Board treasurer.
Jenn Avoledo – current Membership Chair, resident for 10 years.
Ron Milford (absent) – involved in Friends of Orchard Beach; lived off-and-on in OB since 1961, has lived here continuously since 1997.
Marin Green (absent) – current Recording Secretary, has lived in OB since 2011.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Heads up…wrong info up.
Beth Gilmore is the current president of the Ocean Beach Woman’s Club.
Here is a quote right out of Mel’s statement: “In my 1 1/2 years as the OB Woman’s Club president …” – present tense, not past tense.
Save Water is correct. And so is Mel. She did serve as the Woman’s Club pres (past-tense) and did a great job bringing that place back from the brink. I was very pleased to see Beth Gilmore elected to the President role after Mel left though. Both fantastic community leaders, and I hope to see Mel continue her great work on the OBTC board.
One correction please. I have lived here since 1979 full time, off and on prior to that going back to 1961 due to my mom being in the Navy at NTC and moving around :) Thanks!