# Thousand Oaks City Council, District 1

Compare records and positions simply between Karen Arreola or Mikey Taylor for Thousand Oaks City Council, District 1 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of five district seats on Thousand Oaks City Council. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. Thousand Oaks is a Ventura County city of about 126,966 residents. The Council appoints a City Manager, Andrew Powers, to run day-to-day operations. The term is four years. Thousand Oaks has no directly elected Mayor. Each year, the Council picks one member as a ceremonial presiding officer. Mikey Taylor currently holds that role. Bob Engler serves as Mayor Pro Tem. The city moved from at-large to district elections under Ordinance No. 1715-NS. The city council adopted it on July 18, 2023. Districts 4 and 5 were first elected by district in November 2024. Al Adam holds District 4, and Tie Gutierrez holds District 5. Neither is up again until 2028. Districts 1, 2, and 3 are up this cycle. These are the city's first-ever district elections for those three seats.

- Jurisdiction: City of Thousand Oaks
- Election: November 3, 2026 California general election
- Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements.
- Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/thousand-oaks-council-1
- Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/
- Sources last retrieved: September 1, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 92 out of 100 (Very strong), across 10 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Karen Arreola** — Retired Biotech Executive
- **Mikey Taylor** — Councilmember/Business Owner · Incumbent

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

Incumbent Mikey Taylor, the city's current rotating Mayor and a first-term councilmember, faces challenger Karen Arreola, a retired biotech executive -- the two are on opposite sides of how much the city's new Downtown Project should shape development going forward.

This person would hold one of five district seats on the Thousand Oaks City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Ventura County city of about 126,966 residents. The Council appoints a City Manager (Andrew Powers) to run day-to-day operations. The term is four years. Thousand Oaks has no separately, directly elected Mayor -- the Council selects one of its own members annually to serve as the largely ceremonial presiding officer; Taylor himself currently holds that title, with Bob Engler as Mayor Pro Tem.

District 1 covers the Newbury Park area. This is literally the first time this seat has ever been elected by district: the city adopted by-district elections in 2023 (Ordinance No. 1715-NS), with Districts 4 and 5 first up in 2024 and Districts 1, 2, and 3 -- including this one -- up for the first time this cycle. Districts 4 and 5 aren't up again until 2028.

## Mikey Taylor

The incumbent and current rotating Mayor, first elected in 2022 -- narrowly, by 292 votes over Kyle Rohrbach (this cycle's District 2 candidate) in the city's last at-large election. A former professional skateboarder who co-founded Saint Archer Brewing Company (acquired by Molson Coors in 2015) before moving into real estate private equity. He supported the city's recently approved Downtown Project and frames his priorities around maintaining the city's quality of life for the next generation.

**Strengths:** A full term of Council experience, current standing as the Council's rotating Mayor, and a business background spanning entertainment, brewing, and real estate finance.

**Trade-offs:** Arreola's campaign is framed explicitly around a critique of Taylor's development record -- a real policy contrast, though no independent evaluation of his specific votes was found.

**Keep in mind:** The same county document that certifies his candidacy shows no filed date for his FPPC Form 501, Form 700, or campaign-disclosure form as of Aug. 18, 2026 -- no dollar figures were found for his campaign either way.

## Karen Arreola

A more than 30-year Newbury Park resident who built her career in biotechnology, starting at Amgen in 1989 and retiring as head of manufacturing at Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2024; she also served as an adjunct biotechnology professor at Moorpark College. She has no prior elected-office experience. She describes her focus in three words: "protect, plan and prosper" -- protecting open space and limiting development beyond what the city's recent general plan update allows, while also wanting the city to help small local businesses.

**Strengths:** A three-decade career in biotech manufacturing leadership and long-standing roots in the district she'd represent.

**Trade-offs:** No prior elected or appointed government experience -- a first-time-candidate profile, though her adjunct-teaching and manufacturing-leadership background is a relevant transferable skill.

**Keep in mind:** She supports the Downtown Project overall but wants more clarity on its parking, traffic, and oak-tree-protection impacts before it proceeds further -- a qualified rather than blanket endorsement, distinct from Taylor's.

## Sources

1. [Ventura County Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters -- "Contest/Candidate Proof List" (report CFMR001, dated Aug. 18, 2026, on-ballot contests only; already cached locally from earlier in this session and re-checked here): confirms Thousand Oaks's three November 2026 city contests -- City Council District 1 (incumbent Mikey Taylor, "Councilmember/Business Owner"; challenger Karen Arreola, "Retired Biotech Executive"; a third filer shown but not qualified), District 2 (Kyle Rohrbach, "Executive Producer"; Gus Gougas, "Businessman/Business Owner"; a third filer shown but not qualified, no incumbent among the two qualified), and District 3 (incumbent David Newman, "City Councilmember"; challenger Victor Hayek, "Deputy Superintendent") -- and no District 4 or District 5 contest](https://clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/cfmcfmr001_contcanddataproof_08-18-2026-on-ballot-alpha-order-applied.pdf)
2. [Ventura County Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters -- Contest/Candidate Proof List, off-ballot companion document (single-filer and Elections Code Section 10229 contests): carries no District 1, 2, or 3 entry for the City of Thousand Oaks -- corroborating by absence that none of the three was cancelled or moved off-ballot; its one Thousand Oaks entry is a non-districted, zero-filer legacy contest code (6491) listing Bob Engler, David Newman, and Mikey Taylor as the city's current incumbents, consistent with the city's own roster but not itself a live 2026 contest](https://clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/cfmcfmr001_contcanddataproof_08-17-2026-off-ballot.pdf)
3. [City of Thousand Oaks -- "Elections" page (City Clerk): independently republishes the identical certified roster as the county's own document -- District 1 (One Seat): Karen Arreola, Mikey Taylor; District 2 (One Seat): Kyle Rohrbach, Gus Gougas; District 3 (One Seat): Victor Hayek, David Newman -- in ballot order per the Secretary of State's Aug. 13, 2026 randomized alphabetical drawing; states the nomination period is closed](https://www.toaks.gov/index.php?section=elections)
4. [City of Thousand Oaks -- "City Council" page: the Council is five members elected by district serving 4-year staggered terms; the Council annually selects a Mayor (Mikey Taylor, term expires 12/15/2026) and Mayor Pro Tem (Bob Engler, term expires 12/15/2026) from among its own members; names the full roster including Councilmember, District 4 Al Adam and Councilmember, District 5 Tie Gutierrez (both terms expire 12/12/2028) and Councilmember David Newman (term expires 12/15/2026); gives each member's bio](https://www.toaks.gov/index.php?section=citycouncil)
5. [City of Thousand Oaks -- "District Elections" page: states the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 1715-NS on July 18, 2023, implementing a five-member by-district election system, with Districts 4 and 5 first up in 2024 and Districts 1, 2, and 3 up in 2026 -- confirming this is the city's first-ever district election for Districts 1-3](https://www.toaks.gov/index.php?section=districts)
6. [City of Thousand Oaks -- "City Manager's Office" page: names Andrew Powers as the current City Manager](https://www.toaks.gov/index.php?section=citymanager)
7. [Thousand Oaks Acorn -- "Council candidate roster set" (Michael Montalvo, Aug. 28, 2026): a full-length, six-candidate profile piece confirming the certified roster and giving each candidate's own biography, career background, and stated top priorities in their own words, including that District 2 (Rancho Conejo, Wildwood Regional Park, Cal Lutheran) is an open seat because Bob Engler -- who lives in the district -- isn't seeking re-election, and that all six candidates support the recently approved Downtown Project](https://www.toacorn.com/articles/council-candidate-roster-set/)
8. [Thousand Oaks Acorn -- "Thousand Oaks City Council races begin as candidate filing opens" (Michael Montalvo, Jul. 17, 2026): reports Bob Engler's own quoted reason for retiring ("it's probably time for me to step aside and let someone younger come in and move the city forward"); names each district's neighborhoods (District 1 Newbury Park, District 2 Rancho Conejo, District 3 central/eastern Thousand Oaks including Oakbrook and Sunset Hills); and names an early District 2 filer, independent contractor Bradley Poteet, who does not appear on the later-certified two-candidate roster](https://www.toacorn.com/articles/thousand-oaks-city-council-races-begin-as-candidate-filing-opens/)
9. [Wikipedia -- "Thousand Oaks, California": used in this shard only for its 2020 Census population figure (126,966)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand_Oaks,_California)
10. [Thousand Oaks Acorn -- "Engler, Newman, Taylor lead city race" (Victoria Talbot, Nov. 11, 2022): the prior, at-large council election -- Taylor led Rohrbach by just 292 votes for the third of three seats, the two now in different district races this cycle (Taylor District 1, Rohrbach District 2) rather than a rematch](https://www.toacorn.com/articles/engler-newman-taylor-lead-city-race/)

## The rest of the ballot

Thousand Oaks City Council, District 1 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/

## How to cite this page

Vote or Else, "Thousand Oaks City Council, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/thousand-oaks-council-1 (sources last retrieved September 1, 2026).

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