First-time district elections in Greenfield pit council members against each other.

This year for the first time, Greenfield City Council positions will be elected based on districts, rather than at large. Voters will choose two councilmembers, and a new mayor.

Mayor Lance Walker, who has held the seat since 2018 and has been on council since 2012, is not seeking reelection. Two current council members are seeking to fill his seat: Yanely Martinez and Bob White, who are both midway through terms that end in 2024, so whoever loses will keep their existing seat. If Martinez wins she would become the first female mayor in Greenfield’s history.

But not everything has been hunky-dory for Martinez, who’s been on council since 2016. She says she’s been under intense scrutiny since she decided to run for mayor, and she’s also facing a very public dispute with her ex-landlord. “That has really not just affected me, but my family,” she says.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission has an open investigation into Martinez dating from 2021 and has received two more complaints this year, but no action on those has yet been taken. The complaints are related to campaign finance reporting.

In April, Greenfield City Council approved moving from at-large to district elections after a Salinas-based League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) chapter sent a letter to the city stating it was violating the California Voting Rights Act of 2001. Newly drawn districts 1 and 3 are up for election this year.

Current councilmembers Drew Tipton and Angela Untalon both live in District 3, and are now running against each other. 

In District 3, Rachel Ortiz, a bookkeeper who has worked for different nonprofits, the only candidate whose name will appear on ballots. Maria Alvarado is running as a write-in candidate. 

Tipton says the main challenge during this election is making sure they know which district voters are in. “The way the districts ended up being drawn, it’s not very clear,” he says. “One side of the street will get one district, and the other side will be in a different district.”

This South County city is overwhelmingly Latino (90 percent). Greenfield LULAC, founded after the Salinas chapter’s letter, said the change to district elections would motivate more residents to run for office.

“District elections bring the government home,” Martinez says.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated, Drew Tipton and Angela Untalon are running for District 1, not District 3. Rachel Ortiz is running for District 3 against write-in candidate Maria Alvarado, whose candidacy has been certified since this story went to print.