Field of Residents Wanting Seat on Cathedral City Council Grows

CATHEDRAL CITY – The field of residents seeking election in District 4 has grown quickly. There are now three people vying for the sole seat in District as this community holds its first district elections in November, according to Deputy City Clerk Tracey Martinez.

The field of three residents who have filed California Form 501, a Candidate Intention Statement, for District 4 are:

• Ernesto M Gutierrez, owner of Tortillas Restaurant
• John A Rivera, He has served on the Commission for six years. Due to term limits, he  had to leave the seat on Wednesday, June 20. He was serving as chairman of the Commission. Rivera has served 10 years on the Architectural Review Committee and is a licensed architect.
• Enrique “Rick” Saldivar, associate pastor of Destiny Church

District 4 includes Desert Princess Country Club, Outpost and the Dream Homes.

Also filing a Form 501 is Raymond Gregory in District 5, who announced earlier this year. He retired last year from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department after more than 27 years.

District 5 is comprised of the Panorama and La Pasada neighborhoods, as well as the southern and western portions of Rio Vista and the Park David Senior Housing complex, and is one of the districts open in the November 2018 election. Together, these neighborhoods make up approximately 20 percent of the city’s population.

Three of the residents have filed a Form 410, a Statement of Organization so they can begin to raise money. They are Gregory, Gutierrez and Mark Carnevale, who is seeking the District 3 seat.

Carnevale formally announced his bid on June 12 at his eatery, Nicolino’s Italian Restaurant.

District 3 includes the neighborhoods of Rio Vista, Verano, Rio Del Sol, Tapestry, Aldea, and Montage. It also includes the Desert Sands Mobile Home Park and Caliente Sands Mobile Home Park.

All the above-mentioned individuals have filed these forms but are not qualified candidates at this time.  The official Nomination Period will begin July 16, 2018 and end on Aug. 10, 2018.  During Nomination Period individuals will have the opportunity to pull papers and collect signatures on their Nomination Paper.  Once all of the signatures have been verified and the proper documents filed, then they would be considered a qualified candidate.

Martinez said she expects the field of people to file forms in the coming weeks will grow even wider.

The three seats up for election this year are currently held by Mayor Stan Henry, Carnevale and Shelley Kaplan. The two remaining seats now held by Greg Pettis and John Aguilar will be up for grabs in 2020.

Henry chose not to seek a city councilmember position in District 3. Kaplan lives in District 1.  His term ends in 2018.  District 1 will not have an election until 2020, so he must wait two years before deciding whether to seek re-election.

In the newly drawn districts in Cathedral City, Henry and Carnevale both live in District 3. Both councilmembers’ terms end in 2018. If both councilmembers had decided to run for re-election, they would have had to run against each other.

Each of the five districts has about 11,000 residents.

Currently, Mayor Pro Tem Pettis lives in District 1. He serves as an “at large” member of the council until 2020. Likewise, Councilmember John Aguilar lives in District 2 and also holds an at-large” seat until 2020 as both councilmembers were elected to four-year terms in the November 2016 election.