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City of Willits · Statewide General Election

Willits 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 at-large seats up this cycle on Willits' 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Mendocino County city of about 4,988 residents (2020 Census). A 4-year term, running December 2026 through November 2030. Willits is a general-law city under a council-manager government with no directly elected Mayor -- the five councilmembers choose one of their own to hold that title each year, the same structure already documented in this dataset for Ukiah, Fort Bragg, and Point Arena.

Exactly two candidates filed for Willits' two open City Council seats this cycle: Robin Leler, an Independent Studies Teacher, and Sherrie Ebyam, a retired finance director. Both incumbents whose seats were up, Bruce Burton and Larry Stranske, chose not to run again. With as many candidates as seats, both Leler and Ebyam are effectively assured election -- your vote here does not change who takes office, though a write-in candidate could still enter through October 20, 2026.

Willits (2020 Census population 4,988, incorporated Nov. 19, 1888) is a Mendocino County city along U.S. 101. It's a general-law city under a council-manager government: a 5-member City Council sets policy and the budget while an appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations. The city's own Elections page confirms the Mayor is not separately elected -- the Council appoints one of its own members to that title each year -- the same structure this dataset has already documented for Ukiah, Fort Bragg, and Point Arena. The winners serve 4-year terms running December 2026 through November 2030.

This race almost didn't happen. When incumbents Bruce Burton and Larry Stranske both decided not to seek re-election, only Leler and Ebyam stepped forward -- an exact match of candidates to seats that would ordinarily let the City Council simply appoint both to office under California Elections Code Section 10229, saving the cost of holding an election. The City Clerk began preparing exactly that, but the incumbents' late withdrawal forced an extended filing deadline, and by the time that closed there wasn't enough time left to complete the public-notice and waiting-period steps state law requires before an appointment. Section 10229 sets a hard cutoff of 75 days before the election; Willits missed it. "To be sure, this was an error, a mistake," Councilmember Matthew Alaniz wrote in a Facebook post reported by MendoLocal.News, attributing it to "a complicated and recently changed timeline" rather than any deliberate choice. The upshot: the race is printed and held rather than cancelled, and a write-in candidate can still file between September 7 and October 20, 2026.

Robin Leler

Robin Leler is an Independent Studies Teacher with the Mendocino County Office of Education, per her own LinkedIn profile -- matching her "Teacher" ballot designation. This is her fourth run for Willits City Council: she lost the 2024 race to Matthew Alaniz "by a handful of votes," per MendoLocal.News, after three earlier bids. She has a long record of pressing the city on specific issues rather than running a general campaign: in 2015 she and her partner co-wrote a Willits News letter raising concerns about disinfection byproducts in the city's drinking water and calling for a filtration audit -- a letter she says led the city to fix the underlying problem, though it also drew public pushback defending city staff -- and in November 2025 she read a letter to the council alleging "back room irregularities" in a rezoning decision near the high school. "The reason I keep running is I get to talk about the real issues," she told MendoLocal.News, citing drinking-water safety, the Willits Farmers Market's return to City Park, and scrutiny of city contractors.

Strengths

A decade-plus record of specific civic engagement -- water-quality oversight, contract scrutiny, land-use questions -- rather than a first-time or symbolic candidacy.

Trade-offs

Has run and lost three previous council bids, most recently by a narrow margin in 2024; her past advocacy has drawn public pushback as well as vindication.

Keep in mind

She praised Councilmember Alaniz's own skepticism of a no-bid consulting contract, suggesting a watchdog orientation on council spending. She is effectively assured a seat this cycle regardless of these strengths or trade-offs, since only two candidates filed for two seats.

Sherrie Ebyam

Sherrie Ebyam is a retired finance director and former math teacher, per MendoLocal.News -- matching her "Retired Finance Director" ballot designation. She summed up her reason for running in three words: "budget, budget, budget," telling the outlet she has already begun building the spreadsheets needed to understand both the big picture and the granular details of the city's finances amid what MendoLocal.News describes as revenue not keeping pace with rising costs. She brings recent local civic experience: Mendocino County's own Civil Service Commission roster lists her as the sitting District 3 appointee (a second term running Feb. 2023 to Jan. 2027), and the Anderson Valley Advertiser reported she was appointed by Third District Supervisor John Haschak to the county's Measure B mental-health oversight committee. Mayor Tom Allman, quoted in the MendoLocal.News piece, said "I worked with Sherrie Ebyam on Measure B and I'm so happy she made the decision to run for city council."

Strengths

A finance background directly on point for a city facing budget pressure, plus recent, independently confirmed civic-committee experience (Civil Service Commission, Measure B oversight).

Trade-offs

A first-time council candidate with no elected-office record; this dataset found no detail yet on specific budget positions beyond her stated intent to study the numbers closely.

Keep in mind

She has an on-record endorsement from sitting Mayor Tom Allman, who cited their work together on Measure B. She is effectively assured a seat this cycle regardless of these strengths or trade-offs, since only two candidates filed for two seats.

Source review: Strong (83/100) · 7 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • mendocinocounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Mendocino County Elections -- "CANDIDATE LIST - NOVEMBER 3, 2026": "CITY OF WILLITS -- 2 Long Term -- to election," listing Bruce Burton and Larry Stranske (name-only rows, no address/designation/phone -- incomplete filing stubs, not live candidacies per willits-mendolocal-cancelelection-2026) and Robin Leler (150 E Mendocino Ave., Willits 95490; Teacher; 459-0155) and Sherrie Ebyam (373 Creekside Dr., Willits 95490; Retired Finance Director; 530-414-1104) as fully populated rows, recovered by a positional (x/y-coordinate) re-extraction of the PDF's text layer rather than pdf.js's default reading-order flow, which had garbled this section in an earlier pass.
  • mendolocal.news (opens in a new tab)MendoLocal.News (Elise Cox) -- "Why the City of Willits Wanted to Cancel the Election for City Council" (Aug. 24, 2026): reports that incumbents Bruce Burton and Larry Stranske did not file for re-election, that only Robin Leler and Sherrie Ebyam filed, and that City Clerk Delores Pedersen began preparing a California Elections Code Section 10229 appointment in lieu of election but missed the statutory 75th-day deadline -- so the race will be held, not cancelled. Quotes Councilmember Matthew Alaniz calling it "an error, a mistake," Registrar of Voters Katrina Bartolomie confirming a Sept. 7-Oct. 20, 2026 write-in period, and gives independent biographical depth for both candidates, including Mayor Tom Allman's on-record praise for Ebyam's work on the Measure B committee.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Willits, California": 2020 Census population (4,988), Nov. 19, 1888 incorporation date, and a council-manager government with a five-member City Council; used narrowly for this background, not for current officeholder information.
  • cityofwillits.org (opens in a new tab)City of Willits -- "Elections" page: states the Mayor is "appointed by the City Council on an annual basis" (not separately elected) and that the two seats up this cycle are "those currently held by Councilmembers Larry Stranske and Bruce Burton," for terms running December 2026 through November 2030. Retrieved by an earlier pass this dataset; this pass's own attempt at the same URL hit a tool-level permission error rather than a live re-fetch, so the earlier retrieval is reused.
  • linkedin.com (opens in a new tab)LinkedIn -- Robin Leler's profile: "Independent Studies Teacher at Mendocino County Office of Education," based in Willits, California -- matching the county candidate list's "TEACHER" ballot designation for her.
  • mendocinocounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Mendocino County -- Civil Service Commission roster (and its Granicus-hosted boards page): lists Sherrie Ebyam as the District 3 appointee, in a second term running Feb. 7, 2023 to Jan. 1, 2027 -- independent confirmation of her civic-appointee record referenced in her city council candidacy.
  • theava.com (opens in a new tab)Anderson Valley Advertiser -- "Mendocino County Today: Wednesday 3/19/2025": reports Sherrie Ebyam was appointed to the county's Measure B (mental health) oversight committee by Third District Supervisor John Haschak -- independent corroboration of the Measure B committee service Mayor Tom Allman references in willits-mendolocal-cancelelection-2026.

Last updated September 2, 2026.