Incumbents Win Rancho Mirage City Council Race

Planning Commissioner Ira Laufer today held a 15- vote lead over public policy expert Scott Hines for a seat on the Rancho Mirage City Council

Incumbents Dana Hobart and Ron Meepos were re-elected Tuesday, according to semi-official results released by the Riverside County Registrar of Voters.

Hobart led the seven-candidate field with 2,725 votes, followed by Meepos with 2,552, Laufer with 1,666 votes and Hines 1,651.

Laufer, a former Ventura councilman, called for more aggressive pursuit of conventions for Rancho Mirage.

Click here for complete election returns from April 13 election.

“We have a huge opportunity with our bed tax as the tourism business starts to come back,” Laufer said.

Hines said he would recalibrate the city’s tax base “to make sure that our sales tax and bed tax is more diversified.”

“We don’t have enough businesses and hotels to support the current city’s services,” Hines said.

Hobart, who has spent eight years on the City Council, has pledged to continue to provide residents with “the highest quality of life, a safe community and a fiscally sound economic future,” according to his Web site.

Meepos, a two-term councilman, touted his experience as a public accountant in Los Angeles to help solve the city’s financial woes. He said he wants to avoid drawing on the city’s reserves to eliminate the budget deficit.

“My goal is not the spend that, but to do what we can without affecting services to downsize our city government,” Meepos said.

Bill Bramer, who was sixth with 679 votes, worked for a global consulting company before retiring. He said the council needs to focus on reducing the projected deficit.

“It starts with taking a look at all city operations and all city services and streamlining those while developing a strategic plan that would incorporate diversifying our business model along the lines of the Coachella Valley economic blueprint,” Bramer said.

The blueprint seeks to promote regional economic partnerships, diversify the local economy and continue efforts to increase quality of life.

Mark Carpenter, a small business owner, was fifth with 1,177 votes. Kenneth Gregory, an attorney, was last with 269 votes. Neither could not be reached.