2026 General Election Q&A: San Juan Bautista City Council

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Four candidates are vying for three four-year terms on the San Juan Bautista City Council in the Nov. 3 election. Two incumbents, Mayor Leslie Jordan and Councilmember Jackie Morris-Lopez, are joined by Planning Commissioner Elise Brentnall and political newcomer Eddie Guaracha.

Councilmember E. J. Sabathia, whose term is expiring, declined to run for reelection.

Elise Brentnall

Brentnall is 55 years old and is president and chief operations officer of South Valley Internet and managing partner of LCB Communications. She has lived in San Juan for the last five and a half years, has been a member of the San Juan Planning Commission for the past two years and is currently chair of the San Juan Bautista Historic Review Board.

BenitoLink: Why are you running for office?

Brentnall: I was raised to believe that if you do not have something nice to say, you should not say anything at all, and that if you have a concern, you had better be prepared to be part of the solution. That is why I am stepping forward. San Juan Bautista is worth every effort.

My concern has grown over the past few years, and I decided to run at the council meeting where this fiscal year’s budget was approved. The adopted budget describes a constrained fiscal environment, with modest revenue growth and rising operating costs. In plain terms, our expenses are growing faster than our income.

We have what few cities can match. Our Mission, the State Historic Park, the Plaza Hotel, El Teatro Campesino, and Third Street draw visitors from around the world. Our opportunity is to give them reasons to stay longer, dine in our restaurants, shop in our stores, and spend the night.

Most property tax collected here goes to other agencies, so sales tax and hotel tax are where we can make a difference. Empty storefronts don’t generate sales tax, and a quick stop doesn’t book a room.

Balancing the budget and revitalizing our economy go hand in hand. My campaign rests on three priorities: Unite, Revitalize, and Prosper. No one person on a council fixes a town. A community does. I am running to get honest answers about where our money goes and to fill Third Street with open doors.

Recent City Council meetings have opened discussion on allowing chain businesses into the city. What is your position, and, if allowed, how could they be regulated to avoid changing the character of the town?

I understand why some residents are concerned. A formula business in the wrong place could change the feel of our downtown. What makes San Juan Bautista worth visiting is that it is not like everywhere else, and I want to keep it that way.

There is a common misconception that franchises are not allowed here. In fact, our city code already allows formula businesses under certain conditions, including that they fit the character, scale, and architecture of our city.

It comes down to the market. A commuter stopping near Highway 156 to get gas wants something quick before getting back on the road. A visitor downtown came to see the Mission and our historic buildings and plans to stay a while. A business that works well for one will not necessarily work for the other. Downtown, independent and locally owned businesses are a big part of what makes us unique, and they are what I most want to see in our storefronts.

Every application deserves a fair review. I would look at two things: whether it meets the city’s standards, and whether it is the right fit for its location.

San Juan has seen a number of anchor downtown locations empty for years, and the closure of iconic businesses like Doña Esther’s and the San Juan Bakery. What can be done by the city to reverse this trend?

Businesses close for many reasons, and many have nothing to do with the city. What is within our control is the condition of our downtown, and revitalizing it is essential.

Too many buildings sit empty and need repair. We have to restore them before we can expect a business to move in and succeed. The city’s recent work on a vacancy fee is a step in the right direction, and we should give it time to work before adding new measures.

Grant funding is available for preserving and repairing historic buildings, and we should pursue it aggressively. Repairing buildings is only half the work. We also need to be deliberate about who fills them, which means actively recruiting the businesses we want rather than waiting to see who arrives. Fill our storefronts with the right businesses, and visitors will dine, shop, and stay overnight.

Doña Esther’s and the San Juan Bakery were part of this community’s identity, and people miss them. They were longtime gathering places, and I look forward to new businesses becoming part of our story in the same way.

We need downtown busy seven days a week, not only on festival weekends. I believe San Juan Bautista is ready for the change it will take to get there.

The recently adopted budget flags persistent General Fund deficits as unsustainable without further budget cuts or increased taxes and fees. What can San Juan do, besides improvements to the Historic District, to reverse this trend without financially straining residents and established businesses?

Our General Fund depends heavily on sales and hotel tax, and both grow when more economic activity happens inside our city limits. Between taxes and fees, residents are already paying enough. The answer is not to reach further into their pocketbooks. It is to grow revenue and control costs.

One of our biggest opportunities is Highway 156. A great deal of money passes us every day, from commuters to travelers heading to and from Pinnacles, the valley, and Highway 5, and we capture only a small share of it. A gas station is coming to the corner of Highway 156 and The Alameda, along with a small retail space. That space is our chance to make sure what goes in brings strong revenue to the city.

We also need to recruit businesses that generate revenue, with more consistent hours and a wider mix of restaurants, entertainment, and shops. Grant funding exists for economic development, and San Juan Bautista should pursue it.

On the cost side, residents deserve clear answers. Are the enterprise funds reimbursing the General Fund fairly for staff time and overhead? How are contract and outside service costs trending, and are we getting full value for them? What do we actually hold in reserve? We need a General Fund that sustains itself and a clear public accounting of our reserves.

Until revenue catches up, we need to fund necessities first.

Eddie Guaracha

Guaracha, 57, is a retired district supervisor for the California State Parks Department with 30 years of service. Born in Hollister, he has spent 25 years as a San Juan resident and moved back to town with his wife, Kimberley, in 2017. He has never held an elected or appointed position.

BenitoLink: Why are you running for office?

Guaracha: I am running for office to ultimately make a difference in my community. I have a lot of fond memories of my youth growing up in San Juan Bautista, and my children have grown up in this community. I have work experience in dealing with multiple counties and cities throughout my career as a CA State Parks District Superintendent. I am running for city council as it allows me to focus on one city, and best of all, it is the place I call home.

I have always had an affinity towards public service, whether it was serving my department, acting as a steward of public lands and resources, volunteering at the local school district with my kids, or volunteering for Boy Scouts of America, and now volunteering at the San Juan Bautista State Historic Park. The desire to help others has never left me. I decided to wait until I retired from CA State Parks so that I could dedicate myself to fulfilling the role of council member.

This moment feels like a natural progression of public service to my community, as we need to address the issues and challenges of economic sustainability and revitalize our downtown. I am ready to dedicate my time and energy to serving on the city council with the other elected officials, as it will take a group effort to be effective. Our responsibility is to ensure our city continues to move forward in a deliberate and sustainable manner for the next generation.

Recent City Council meetings have opened discussion on allowing chain businesses into the city. What is your position, and if allowed, how could they be regulated to avoid changing the character of the town?

I encourage responsible business growth and investment that benefits our residents and strengthens our local economy to include the concept of a chain business operating within San Juan Bautista. Many of us grew up with a shared respect for our local history and a deep connection and appreciation for the historic buildings. Yet I believe there is a path to preserve our rich history and allow a chain business to be established in town. We can implement safeguards to moderate uncontrolled expansion.

There is already a business application review by the SJB Historic Resources Board and the SJB Planning Commission to provide input and guidance on proposed development. The Historic Review Commission provides recommendations to ensure potential businesses conform to the historic fabric of our community.

In addition, there are existing documents designating zone development limitations and types of business establishments in place. We can also implement a type of business matrix as a guiding tool for our decision-making process. The conditional use permit can evaluate whether the proposed business meets services not currently met, such as hours of operation, providing special services, and minimum footprint requirements.

We also need to define what a chain business actually is. This business matrix can objectively evaluate businesses to avoid arbitrary decisions and avoid legal challenges.

Over-restriction can also prevent businesses interested in investing in our community. If these types of businesses cannot conform to our historic appearance due to their standardized templates, then they will be eliminated from consideration.

San Juan has seen a number of anchor downtown locations empty for years, and the closure of iconic businesses like Dona Esther’s and the San Juan Bakery. What can be done by the city to reverse this trend?

We need to foster a pathway to promote new business by establishing an economic development team made up of community members to complement city staff. This team would work under the Planning Commission. Their focus should be on recruiting new business and retention of existing businesses.

This team would ensure property owner inclusion by conducting a general assessment of actual barriers to downtown improvements. Are barriers financial due to infrastructure cost or procedural, such as the permitting process associated with historic structures? Are there unnecessary delays in the permitting process creating frustrations? We need a thorough evaluation to best determine our direction to provide assistance.

If financial, we can collaborate with community leaders to promote growth and sustainability through resource sharing. We can work with the local non-profit groups to complement city services and apply for specialized state and federal supporting business grants and revitalization programs.

Education will also be important to better understand the preservation guidelines of historic structures. We can hold specific training for business owners and property owners regarding guidelines by the California Office of Historic Preservation and the National Park Service focusing on SJB Third Street Historic District as part of training from resource agencies. This would also help us gain insight into potential repurposing of existing buildings as an option.

Lastly, look at streamlining the permitting process to facilitate transition from vacant buildings to occupied buildings. We should review permitting procedures and differentiate between administrative versus informal requirements to reduce the timeline of approving permits to create a business-friendly city.

Reducing a small government’s annual budget requires balancing operational efficiency while providing the essential service functions of our city’s day-to-day operations, as well as annual commitments. Internal budget drills should already be occurring for a worst-case scenario.

What are the expected various levels of service based on a reduced budget? It is not simply about cutting a single line-item to meet our budget, but what are the implications if they go into effect? We should already have a determination to break down the level of services and obligations by breaking down these costs into health and safety tasks, mandatory fiscal and operational obligations, debt obligations, current contract obligations, and staffing levels.

In my management experience, our largest obligation was personnel. We should be running an audit of a type of performance-based budgeting. We also have to remember this analysis comes with a cost, so prioritization is critical in evaluating the financial health of our city. Budget review should be completed quarterly, if not monthly.

Do we have a temporary or seasonal freeze of positions not supporting essential functions? Do we qualify for any special federal or state funding to offset the operational budget? We should consider job sharing employees with neighboring municipalities as a cost savings measure. Do we have an opportunity to negotiate service packages due to rising costs?

There are additional cost savings actions we can consider. It is not one single change that will help us improve our financial situation, but several meaningful actions that will have a cumulative beneficial effect on our budget.

Leslie Jordan

Jordan is a water resource management instructor at Gavilan College and a water and wastewater systems management and environmental compliance specialist. She has lived in San Juan for 13 years and is currently serving her eighth year on the City Council. While in office, she served as mayor pro tem for two years and mayor for five years.

BenitoLink: Why are you running for office?

Jordan: There are projects I want to see through. The water transmission pipeline that will supplement and blend with our existing wells is one—that is long-term water security for this city, and I want to be at the table until it is completed. The fire district formation is another—San Juan Bautista, the city of Hollister, and the county Board of Supervisors have been working toward this for a while now, and it still needs work to get across the finish line.

Beyond those two, I think we are at a turning point. We have an excellent city manager, we’ve brought building and planning in-house, and we’ve put new policies in place that have made this city leaner and better run. Now it is time to build on that foundation and start the real work of revitalizing San Juan Bautista. We are on the precipice of something good and I want to keep serving this city and be a part of getting us there.

San Juan Bautista’s municipal code already addresses this—large-scale retail, formula retail or restaurant businesses, and formula visitor accommodations all require Planning Commission review and a conditional use permit. The ordinances require findings that the business serves an unmet need, that it will complement and enhance the character of the city, and that its design fits the scale and pedestrian character of our town. Drive-throughs are prohibited outright.

We are not starting from zero—we have real standards in place. So, having said that, preserving our unique local culture and supporting our independent mom-and-pop shops has to stay the top priority. I am open to reviewing our current ordinance and looking at what might make sense on the periphery of the city, but any conversation about that has to start and end with protecting what makes San Juan Bautista San Juan Bautista.

This has been a source of frustration for me for years. I have pushed for a vacancy fee or tax since my first term, and for a long time it did not have the votes. This council finally adopted a new fee schedule that includes a vacancy fee. And I am hopeful it starts to move the needle on our absentee business owners and building owners

But a fee alone does not fix this—responsibility has to be shared. Business owners have an obligation to actually adhere to the business plan and hours of operation they committed to. Building owners have an obligation not to let their properties deteriorate to the point where they become unrentable, and to share in the cost of tenant improvements when they are asking someone to invest in reopening a space. We cannot expect a new business to walk into a building that is falling apart from the inside out and take that risk alone.

The city can help. We can assist in securing historic district grants, and we should. But that support only works if it is met halfway. This has to start with building owners taking ownership of their properties, literally and figuratively.

Much thanks to our city manager, we have balanced our budget again and received a strong bond rating in the process. We got there in part by bringing planning and building services in-house, which cut what we were paying out in contracts, and by running lean across the board.

With that, we do have significant expenses coming in the next several years, and we need to keep taking a hard look at the budget—not as a one-time fix, but as an ongoing discipline. That means continuing to reduce our dependency on outside contract operations and bring functions in-house more effectively. It means taking economic development seriously as a revenue strategy, not just a downtown beautification talking point. That includes revisiting our approach to formula retail—weighing what limited, well-regulated additions could bring in sales tax revenue against what we would want to protect—and continuing to invest in downtown so that it is generating activity and revenue rather than sitting vacant.

None of this is a single fix. It is a combination of discipline on spending and deliberate work on growing the revenue side without leaning on residents or established businesses to cover the gap.

Jackie Morris-Lopez

Morris-Lopez currently serves as a City Council member. She is a primary care physician assistant by profession and has also served as a planning commissioner. She is currently the director of the San Benito Council of Governments and has been appointed to represent San Benito County in the Monterey Bay Area Latino Elected Officials organization.

A lifelong resident of San Juan, Morris-Lopez was born in the original Hazel Hawkins Hospital on Monterey Street in Hollister. With her daughter, she can claim a family that has lived in the area for five generations.

BenitoLink: Why are you running for office?

Morris-Lopez: I am hoping to continue working for and with the residents and local businesses for the overall economic success of the city. My firsthand knowledge for more than 50 years as a resident will help to bring back a vibrancy to the city while keeping its historic character. I want to help it thrive and not just survive! The other passion of mine is good governance with reviewing codes and ordinances that better suit the citizens and the city.

I believe the discussion has just been touched upon regarding allowing chain businesses into the city. This will be a process of reviewing what that could look like, with the input of local small businesses and the residents first and foremost. There are many factors to consider as with anything this significant, such as zoning, location, what type of “chain” business and ultimately what does the community think or want.

The closure of iconic downtown businesses has definitely been a hard hit. I will not jump to any conclusions as to why a business closes or judge that. There are many factors that led to that decision unknown to the public with the closing of the Bakery, Dona Esther’s and La Casa Rosa.

To reverse this trend will be multifactorial—assessing why the business owners closed, assessing the empty properties left, what repairs would be needed before a new business enters. I would like to see some type vetting of businesses the community would like and what would benefit the community.

The finances and budget will always be one of concern and caution in any city of any size, it’s not just unique to San Juan Bautista. I do think we have been prudent and balanced our budget, but going into 2027, a close review is needed, and difficult decisions will need to be addressed.

It would be irresponsible not to look at those unsustainable budget items. I would push for services to be the last to be cut, however that can be achieved. A stronger consideration of economic development that increases our TOT and sales taxes through increased tourism is essential, that doesn’t stress the local residents or hit their pocketbooks.

BenitoLink General Election Forum

BenitoLink is hosting a General Election Forum with candidates currently running for office at the Granada Theater (336 Fifth Street, Hollister) from 6 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 17. (Doors open at 5:30 p.m.)

Please fill out this Google Form with any questions for the candidates or send them to yourvoice@benitolink.com.

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