Half Moon Bay gets City Council revamp

“I look forward to the challenges. There’s a lot of wisdom on this council. I really appreciate the knowledge and years of experience,” Brownstone said. “I’ve enjoyed the work, looking forward to the next year.” 

Nagengast originally nominated Councilmember Debbie Ruddock for the mayoral position, with Jonsson seconding. But Jonsson ended up voting for Brownstone, alongside Brownstone himself and Councilmember Deborah Penrose, who scolded the councilmembers for trying to break rotation. 

“It’s been a tradition in our city that we rotate through councilmembers and that as each councilmembers’ turn comes up they become mayor,” she said. “I think it’s a shame that we are trying to go out of rotation. That seems like a divisive thing and a difficult way to start.” 

Ruddock and Nagengast both voted for Ruddock to become mayor, which would have broken the city’s rotation. 

Nagengast defeated Jimenez for the District 2 seat and Jonsson beat Rarback for District 4. Both challengers had been openly more cautious about Half Moon Bay’s plans for growth in comparison to their opponents, who had been strong advocates for affordable housing throughout their time on City Council. 

The new councilmembers said they were looking forward to representing the residents of Half Moon Bay. Jonsson spoke about his own background as an immigrant from Sweden and the importance of hard work and working together. 

“We’re going to move forward with taking on where they left off and continuing on with moving forward and building the bridge together,” he said. 

Nagengast reflected on his own work for the city, beginning as Public Works director more than 20 years ago. 

“There are very high passions in this town of where folks believe we should be and should go, and we can find ways to make things work,” he said. “That, to me, is something I definitely want to try and bring to this council — how we can move forward together.” 

Resident Maria Grigorieff touched on the complex issues with which Half Moon Bay residents were contending and said that despite concerns from some in the community that the town was changing too expeditiously, she believed there was still broad support for the principles behind those changes. 

“The two new city councilmembers, as they pick up the reins, need to remember that this town believes not only in science and education but also in addressing climate change, working to provide access to decent housing, living wages and safety for all,” she said.

Current councilmembers like Penrose also reflected on the impact of Jimenez and Rarback’s terms. As the first Mexican immigrant to serve on the council, his tenure was important for the recognition of the Latino community in many ways, Penrose said. 

“Not only bringing them forward and supporting them and supporting us, but you’ve also taught us about farming and the significance of our history with farming and of keeping farming as part of something we are proud of and we promote,” she said. 

Jimenez also reflected on that element of his four years on the City Council. 

“It’s been an honor to serve as the first Mexican immigrant, son of farmworkers [on the] City Council of Half Moon Bay,” he said. “It’s been an honor to represent 100% of the population — one-third of the population is Latino, of Mexican descent, and now everybody is represented.” 

Rarback said that he was proud of his longtime focus on serving Half Moon Bay’s most vulnerable populations. 

“I’m honored to be part of this eight-year commitment I had to help those who really needed help in the city, and I’m going to be sad to not be part of it anymore,” he said.