Three candidates are vying for two seats on the Calistoga City Council

Calistoga voters will decide who fills two seats on the City Council in the Nov. 5 election.

The Calistoga mayoral seat, currently held by Donald Williams, is also up for election this year for a two-year term. Williams, who was first elected mayor in 2022 after serving two years on the council, wants to win back the seat unopposed.

There are three candidates running for the two seats on the council. Two of them are sitting council members: Lisa Gift and Irais Lopez-Ortega. The third is Marion Villalba, a local substitute teacher. The two candidates with the most votes will secure seats on the council.

Gift was first elected to the council in 2020; she won 842 votes, or about 23% of the total vote in that race. Lopez-Ortega — who was appointed to the Calistoga council seat in 2013 and has served on the council since — was the top vote-getter in that race, winning 1,295 votes or about 35% of the total vote.

Villalba, 42, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. At a candidate forum on Oct. 8, she listed housing, youth education and the development of the Napa County Fairgrounds property — which the city bought from the county this year for $2 million — as priorities if elected, according to the Calistoga Tribune.

Gift, 42, said she focused her term on advocating for families and small businesses.

She identified housing as the top priority for the city. Calistoga is in the midst of a housing crisis, she wrote, with about 29% of local households spending 30 to 50% of their income on housing and 12.6% spending more.

“This situation is driving families away, keeping longtime residents from raising their children here, impacting our sports organizations and school enrollments, and making it difficult for local businesses to retain employees,” Gift said in an email to The Press Democrat.

Gift added that infrastructure is another pressing issue. There is a need to upgrade and maintain the aging infrastructure, she said, so that residents are not hit with “exorbitant costs” later. That’s currently a problem with the city’s water and wastewater supplies; the rates residents pay for these amenities have increased this year and will continue to increase every year until 2028.

Gift also said she believes diversity and inclusion are “fundamental pillars of a thriving community,” and that city leaders should work with LGBTQ+ and Latino organizations to gain a deeper understanding of community needs.

If re-elected, Gift said she will continue to focus on initiatives that “empower small businesses and advance impactful housing solutions, all aimed at preserving the foundations of our community.”

“I may not have all the answers, nor do I pretend to, but I promise that I will continue to listen to our residents and carefully consider every decision I make with every vote,” Gift wrote.

Early 2022, Gift made her experiences public with mental health issues – including a suicide attempt and an arrest on suspicion of violating the terms of a restraining order – during the COVID-19 pandemic. She pleaded guilty in July 2023 to two felony counts of violating a protective order, and two misdemeanor counts of violating a court order, and was sentenced to a 20-day work program, one day in jail and three years of probation.

That probation was later revoked in October 2023, but then reinstated in July 2024 when she pleaded guilty to another violation of the protective order; she was also sentenced to a ten-day work program.

Lopez-Ortega, 60, is only the second person of Latino descent to hold elected office in the city. She said in an email to The Press Democrat that she believes there is a need for Latino representation so her community can have the same opportunities as everyone else — and a good quality of life.

At the same time, Lopez-Ortega emphasized that there is a great need to involve community members in local government. Achieving active and consistent community participation is often the most difficult task to accomplish, she said.

“I believe that if we all want to live here, we must work together as a community and participate as much as possible in the decisions made by our government,” Lopez-Ortega wrote.

Lopez-Ortega added that community service is in her blood. She is also a board member of Water Education For Latino Leaders, a nonprofit organization that provides water policy education to elected officials throughout California.

“I appreciate all the support from the Calistoga community and the opportunity to serve,” Lopez-Ortega wrote. “I would like to continue working among all the residents here, but either way, I am a part of this city and I will do community work one way or another.”

Lopez-Ortega was embroiled ia high-profile lawsuit in August 2021, after being charged by the Napa County District Attorney’s Office with four counts of elder abuse. In March 2023, she pleaded guilty to one felony count; the other charges were dismissed through a plea deal, according to court records. Lopez-Ortega was sentenced to one year of probation and one day in jail.

You can reach staff writer Edward Booth at 707-521-5281 or [email protected].