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Indian Wells City Council

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City of Indian Wells

Indian Wells City Council

This person holds one of two at-large seats up this cycle. The seats are on Indian Wells' City Council. The council has five members. They vote on the city budget, land use, and public safety contracts. Indian Wells is a Coachella Valley resort city. The term is four years. Indian Wells has no separately elected Mayor. Each year, the five councilmembers choose a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem. They choose both from among themselves. Voters approved this rotation process.

Two of Indian Wells' five City Council seats are on the November 3 ballot. Neither current incumbent is running again. Dana Reed and Bruce Whitman are both stepping down. Three newcomers are competing for the two open seats. They are Michael Hazelton, Karlyn Neel, and Rob Zwemmer.

Indian Wells' council is five members, all elected citywide (at large, no districts) on staggered 4-year terms; the other three seats — held by Mayor Toper Taylor, Mayor Pro Tem Brian Penna, and Council Member Greg Sanders — aren't up this cycle. The council chooses one of its own to serve as Mayor and another as Mayor Pro Tem each year under a voter-approved rotation process, so voters elect councilmembers, not a mayor directly. Whoever wins holds the seat for four years, setting the budget, land use, and public-safety contracting for this small, affluent Coachella Valley resort city built around golf resorts, tennis, and the BNP Paribas Open.

With no incumbent in the field, this is a genuinely open race decided in a single round: the two highest vote-getters among the three candidates win outright, with no primary or runoff. All three are first-time candidates for this seat, so the choice comes down to which two of three professional backgrounds voters want steering the city's next four years.

Michael Hazelton

Michael Hazelton is a local real estate agent, according to The Desert Sun. No campaign website or platform statement was found for them. No other independent news coverage of their campaign was found either.

Karlyn Neel

Karlyn Neel is a designer and a historic preservation advocate, according to The Desert Sun. They own an Indian Wells home designed by William Cody. Cody was a noted mid century modern architect. He is linked to the Coachella Valley's Palm Springs era style. No campaign website or platform statement was found for them. No other independent news coverage of their campaign was found either.

Rob Zwemmer

Rob Zwemmer is president of a local realty group, according to The Desert Sun. They are also co owner of the Coachella Valley Scorpions, a local professional pickleball team. No campaign website or platform statement was found for them. No other independent news coverage of their campaign was found either.

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A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

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