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City of Atascadero · Statewide General Election

Atascadero City Council

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person would hold one of two open at-large seats on Atascadero's 5-member City Council (the Mayor is the fifth, elected separately), serving a 4-year term: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this San Luis Obispo County city of about 29,773 residents. Atascadero elects its Council entirely at large, with no council districts.

Four candidates are running for Atascadero's two open at-large City Council seats: incumbent Susan Funk and three challengers, Mike Avila, Ian Denchasy, and Emily Baranek. The two with the most votes win.

Atascadero's City Council has five members -- a directly elected Mayor (a separate race) plus four Council Members, all elected citywide to four-year terms; the city has no council districts. Two of the four Council seats are up this November; the other two, held by Mayor Pro Tem Mark Dariz and Council Member Seth Peek, run through 2028.

Both seats up this cycle were held by Council Members elected in 2022 -- Funk and Heather Newsom. Newsom did not refile for re-election and does not appear on the city's Notice of Nominees, leaving Funk as the only incumbent in a four-candidate field for the two seats.

Susan Funk

Susan Funk is the incumbent seeking a third term, first elected to the Council in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. Her own candidate statement describes her occupation as "Incumbent/Small Business Owner" and cites a Council record of replacing fire engines, adding police officers, and making Downtown "livelier," with more parking and safer for pedestrians; she states her priorities as more businesses, jobs, and housing options for young people and working families, and strategic investment in roads, parks, and infrastructure. The city's own Council biography page independently adds that she holds an MBA and has over 30 years of experience as a small-business owner and healthcare-industry management consultant.

Strengths

Two terms of experience, an MBA and 30-plus years as a small-business owner and healthcare consultant, and a specific, cited Council record (fire engines, police staffing, Downtown).

Trade-offs

No independent news profile or third-party review of her two terms was found this pass -- the only account of her record is her own campaign statement.

Keep in mind

The sole incumbent in the field; re-electing her is a vote for continuity on a Council that will otherwise seat at least one first-time member.

Mike Avila

Mike Avila is a small-business owner running for City Council for the first time. His candidate statement describes over 20 years running businesses in Atascadero with his wife Kellie -- a construction-contracting firm working on federal public-works and telecommunications projects, and a roadway-safety products business the couple grew to over 100 employees -- and his current service on the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission. He states his priorities as public safety and first-responder investment, small-business and economic-development support, park maintenance, and road/pothole repair.

Strengths

Two decades running Atascadero businesses at meaningful scale (one grew past 100 employees), plus current service on the county's Planning Commission -- land-use experience at the county level.

Trade-offs

No prior city elected or appointed office, and no independent news coverage of his campaign was found this pass beyond his own statement.

Keep in mind

A first-time city candidate whose public record so far is his own statement and county Planning Commission service.

Ian Denchasy

Ian Denchasy, 62, is a small-business owner and former English teacher running for City Council for the first time. His candidate statement describes moving to Atascadero in 2018 to start a small pie business and build a 450-square-foot tiny house, and working with the city to establish what he describes as the state's first off-grid ordinance, allowing homes and businesses to opt out of connecting to a public utility. He states his priority as serving residents, businesses, and visitors in a way that provides economic growth and involves younger residents in charting the city's future.

Strengths

A specific, independently describable civic achievement in his own account -- helping establish a first-of-its-kind city ordinance -- rather than only general priorities.

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed city office, and no independent news coverage of his campaign or verification of the off-grid-ordinance claim was found this pass beyond his own statement.

Keep in mind

His stated focus on reaching younger residents is itself a platform position, not an independently confirmed outcome.

Emily Baranek

Emily Baranek, 45, is a homebuilder and community-development professional running for City Council for the first time. Her candidate statement describes her as a 4th-generation Atascadero resident and Atascadero High School graduate who has worked for over 20 years building homes and communities on the Central Coast, currently as Senior Construction Manager for People's Self-Help Housing, an affordable-housing nonprofit. She cites nearly six years on the city's Design Review Committee, Habitat for Humanity volunteering, and past leadership of the Atascadero Fine Arts Academy PTSA, and states her priority as balancing progress with preserving the city's small-town character through thoughtful planning.

Strengths

Nearly six years of hands-on city land-use experience on the Design Review Committee, plus a career building affordable housing -- directly relevant to a Council seat that sets land-use policy.

Trade-offs

No prior elected city office, and no independent news coverage of her campaign was found this pass beyond her own statement.

Keep in mind

A multi-generation Atascadero family background and a housing-development career both suggest likely growth/housing priorities.

Source review: Strong (88/100) · 10 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • atascadero.org (opens in a new tab)City of Atascadero -- own "2026 General Election" page: states, in the city's own words, that the Nov. 3, 2026 Consolidated General Election fills "One (1) Mayor for a full term of two (2) years," "Two (2) Members of the City Council for full terms of four (4) years," and "One (1) Treasurer for a full term of four (4) years," and links the city's Notice of Election, Notice of Offices and Nominations, and Notice of Nominees.
  • atascadero.org (opens in a new tab)City of Atascadero City Clerk's Office -- official "Notice of Nominees for Public Office" (signed by Assistant City Manager/City Clerk Lara K. Henderson, dated Aug. 25, 2026, after the nomination period closed): names the final certified field for the Nov. 3, 2026 General Municipal Election -- Mayor, Vote for One: Charles Bourbeau; Member of the City Council, Vote for Two: Mike Avila, Ian Denchasy, Emily Baranek, Susan Funk; Treasurer, Vote for One: Jeri Rangel.
  • atascadero.org (opens in a new tab)City of Atascadero -- own "Candidates & Committees" page: independently confirms the identical five-name roster (Charles Bourbeau for Mayor; Ian Denchasy, Emily Baranek, Susan Funk, and Mike Avila for the two Council seats; Jeri Rangel for Treasurer) and lists each candidate's Form 501 filing date and the dates their nomination paperwork was pulled, returned, and qualified for the ballot -- all five between July 22 and Aug. 5, 2026 -- and links each candidate's filed Candidate Statement of Qualifications and the city's NetFile campaign-disclosure portal.
  • atascadero.org (opens in a new tab)City of Atascadero -- own "Mayor, Council & Treasurer" page: names every current officeholder and term (Mayor Charles Bourbeau, 2024-2026; Mayor Pro Tem Mark Dariz, 2024-2028; Council Members Susan Funk and Heather Newsom, both 2022-2026; Council Member Seth Peek, 2024-2028; Treasurer Jeri Rangel, term ending 2026), confirms the Council is a 5-member body elected at large under a council-manager government, and gives each current member's own biography -- including Bourbeau's 2016 Council election, prior Planning Commission service, and nearly 30-year Army National Guard career; Funk's 2018 election, 2022 re-election, MBA, and 25-year healthcare-management-consulting career; and Rangel's Dec. 2024 appointment as Treasurer (filling predecessor Gere Sibbach's unexpired term), Certified California Municipal Treasurer designation, and role as the city's Administrative Services Director since 2013.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, "Atascadero, California": used narrowly for the fixed, dated 2020 Census population figure (29,773) and as an independent cross-check of the city's council-manager government structure and five-member, at-large City Council.
  • public.netfile.com (opens in a new tab)A negative-result local campaign-finance check: the City of Atascadero's own Candidates & Committees page names public.netfile.com/pub2/?AID=atasc as its FPPC campaign-disclosure filing portal, but that portal is a fully client-rendered single-page application -- every direct fetch attempted this pass, including several guessed REST API paths, returned only the same empty application shell, with no live-browser fallback available this session. Documents the absence of a reachable financial-disclosure source for every candidate in this shard, not any candidate's actual finances.
  • records.atascadero.org (opens in a new tab)Susan Funk's own filed 2026 Candidate's Statement of Qualifications for Atascadero City Council, filed with the City Clerk's Office: describes herself as "Incumbent/Small Business Owner," cites her record since 2018 (replaced fire engines, added police officers, revitalized Downtown), and states her priorities as more businesses, jobs, and housing options, and strategic investment in roads, parks, and infrastructure.
  • records.atascadero.org (opens in a new tab)Ian Denchasy's own filed 2026 Candidate's Statement of Qualifications for Atascadero City Council, filed with the City Clerk's Office: describes himself, age 62, as a "Small business owner" and former English teacher who moved to Atascadero in 2018 to start a small pie business and build a tiny house, cites his role establishing the city's off-grid ordinance, and states his priorities as economic growth and engaging younger residents.
  • records.atascadero.org (opens in a new tab)Emily Baranek's own filed 2026 Candidate's Statement of Qualifications for Atascadero City Council, filed with the City Clerk's Office: describes herself, age 45, as a "Homebuilder, Community Development Professional, and Public Servant," a 4th-generation Atascadero resident and Atascadero High School graduate, Senior Construction Manager for People's Self-Help Housing, and a nearly six-year member of the city's Design Review Committee.
  • records.atascadero.org (opens in a new tab)Mike Avila's own filed 2026 Candidate's Statement of Qualifications for Atascadero City Council, filed with the City Clerk's Office: describes himself as a "Small Business Owner" for over 20 years (a construction contracting firm and a roadway-safety-products business that grew to over 100 employees), a member of the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission, and states his priorities as public safety, small-business support, and infrastructure.

Last updated September 2, 2026.