SLT council touches on annexing Meyers, electing a mayor

By Kathryn Reed

Is South Lake Tahoe about to redefine its boundaries? Will an elected mayor be the way the city is governed?

Kenny Curtzwiler who lives in Meyers and former South Lake Tahoe City Councilman Ted Long broached those topics. They both spoke at the Feb. 9 City Council meeting during public comments.

Councilman Jerry Birdwell at the end of the regular session got consensus from his colleagues to have an item on a future agenda that would help push the discussion forward. The idea is to have a community meeting to talk about possibly annexing portions of El Dorado County into the city limits as well as going from a general law city to a charter city.

“People who want to be annexed should do a grassroots (movement). Not the council,” Councilman Hal Cole said.

The council said it welcomes the discussion in a community meeting format, but does not want it to be at a council meeting.

Councilman Bill Crawford suggested Mayor Kathay Lovell attend the next Meyers Roundtable meeting to gauge what that group thinks of annexation.

He cautioned that it is expensive to become a charter city and that there are a lot of hoops to go through.

“Do we have the kind of people in this community who can give up their life or job for four years?” Crawford asked in reference to an elected mayor.