The San Juan Bautista City Council has two seats up for contention this upcoming election and one of the candidates might sound familiar to local voters. Tyler “Floppy” Jordan, son of current vice mayor Leslie Jordan, has filed for the Nov. 5 ballot and could potentially serve on the same dais as his mother if elected.
Tyler, 34, lists his occupation as an EMT and business owner on San Benito County’s elections website, and filed his candidacy under a San Juan Bautista Post Office box. He is up against three other candidates, including incumbent mayor Scott Freels, for an at-large city council seat. Paralegal Cherie Foletta and city planning commissioner Jose Aranda are also running.
In California, the election code does not bar family members from serving together on local government bodies, including city councils. According to California Election Code 201, the only requirement to file is that the candidate be a registered voter and qualified to vote in the jurisdiction at the time that nomination papers are issued or at the time of the person’s appointment.
However, local jurisdictions can put their own restrictions in place regarding the issue. The city of Los Altos’ city council rules, for example, do not allow two members of an immediate family, or persons residing in the same household to serve simultaneously on the same commission or committee. The bylaw adds that “immediate family members residing in the same household as council members are not eligible for appointment to any commission or committee.”
San Juan Bautista does not have such an ordinance, but an internet search lists Tyler and Leslie as living at the same residence, although it is unclear how current that information is. If they do live in the same household, a potential issue could be real or perceived Brown Act violations.
The Ralph M. Brown Act, also known as the Open Meeting Law, requires local legislative bodies to hold open and public meetings. If two council members live in the same household and another member joins them there, it’s considered a quorum and outside the scope of a public meeting.
The Free Lace reached out to Leslie Jordan and Tyler Jordan, but they did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
San Juan Bautista City Clerk Elizabeth Soto told the Free Lance that in her 16 years of serving in municipal government, she has not come across a situation like this.
“The elections office didn’t say anything was against allowing (Tyler) to run for city council. I think at this point in time [..] there’s concerns from everybody, but it’s going to be up to the community, to the residents to decide if that’s what they want to do,” Soto said.
