There was one Carmel party to rule them all after the polls closed Nov. 3, hosted by Hans Buder. Seventh & Dolores, the steakhouse with the same name as its address, saw roughly 150 people sipping wine and snacking on bacon-wrapped prawns as they waited in anticipation for election results to roll in.
“Carmel, are you ready to fix the sidewalks?” Buder asked a cheering crowd. “We are going to build a better-run city. This council is going to measure performance, track results and constantly be looking for ways to do things better, faster and cheaper.”
Early results showed Buder, who is halfway through his first term on City Council, poised to become the next mayor, leading the race by about 860 votes over opponent David Boland, a margin of 81-19.
The winner will fill the seat Dale Byrne held for one term, and for which he is not seeking reelection.
“I think it’s important that we stay on track with our public works projects,” Byrne says of anticipated challenges for the next mayor. He attended an earlier election night celebration at City Hall. “We pushed hard to get Measure M passed.”
Measure M, which would increase the transient occupancy tax rate from 10 percent to 12 percent, and Measure N, a sales tax increase, are also leading.
Of the three candidates running for two City Council seats, incumbent Alissandra Dramov and Carmel Planning Commissioner Stefan Karapetkov, running for council for the first time, are leading the race in early returns. Bobby Richards, who served two terms from 2016 to 2024, is trailing in third.
“Serving on City Council comes with more responsibility,” Karapetkov says of the preliminary results showing in his favor. “It’s still close, but it’s looking good.”