Lake Tahoe News asked candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council, Lake Tahoe Community College, Lake Tahoe Unified School District, Douglas County School District, South Tahoe Public Utility District and Lake Valley Fire Protection District a series of questions.

However, not all candidates chose to respond.

Not one of the four candidates for Lake Valley Fire Protection District took the time. Bob Bettencourt, board chairman, told Lake Tahoe News the board decided as a group not to do so. However, only two incumbents are running – Bettencourt and John Rice.

Bettencourt and Rice told LTN they didn’t like some of the questions. Many were the same asked of all the candidates. Specific to the fire board were:

·      How can local government support effective fire prevention and forest management practices?

·      Morale is horrible in the department, what can the board do to help fix this?

·      What will you look for in a permanent fire chief?:

·      What is your philosophy about ambulance service?

As for the other two candidates for Lake Valley FPD – Leona Allen and Tony Sears – the reason(s) for not responding are unknown.

There are three seats up for that board.

Also not answering questions were Mike Doyle running for Lake Tahoe Unified School District and Mike Kiger seeking the Douglas County School District board seat. Both said they were too busy. Their opponents, though, Bonnie Turnbull and Keith Byer, respectively, found the time.

Bob Topel, one of 10 candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council, does not have email and did not provide a friend’s address for the questions to be sent there.

Look for endorsements from Lake Tahoe News for these offices and the three South Lake Tahoe measures to run in October. A panel of seven community members will come up with the recommendations of how voters should mark their ballots.

All of the candidate answers may be found under the Special Projects tab at the top of the Home Page, then click on 2016 November Candidate Profiles.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report