Speaker: Susan Candell, Mayor of Lafayette

Topic: House Elements and New State Laws Affecting Housing

Susan and her husband Brian have lived in Lafayette for 22 years, along with their children Allison and Peter. She was elected to Lafayette City Council in 2018 and is now Mayor of the City of Lafayette for one year starting in December 2020. On City Council, Susan helped write 4 of the 5 Strategic Objectives for Lafayette: Develop a strategy to augment community emergency preparedness, specifically in wildfire planning, Develop a strategy to create and institutionalize holistic City-Schools collaboration, Develop a strategy to expand City support of local businesses and commerce & to increase the vibrancy of downtown Lafayette, and Develop a strategy for addressing traffic congestion and improving mobility in Lafayette. Susan is currently the Chair of the Equity and Inclusion Task Force, Lafayette’s representative to ABAG/MTC (our Regional Council of Government), and regularly attends the Contra Costa County’s Mayors Conference. She organized a Lamorinda COVID-19 Testing program in late Spring 2020 for all Lamorinda residents and staff in all 8 Senior Care Facilities before testing was available for these sites through the county, with the help of Orinda Medical Group, Orinda and Moraga City Councils, and fundraising by the Community Foundations for Lafayette, Orinda, and Moraga.

Susan grew up in Orinda, and after travels for school and jobs, returned to Lamorinda for the same reasons we all choose to live here. She has 17 years of fundraising service with Lombardy Branch of UCSF Benioff Childrens Hospital Oakland, and she is President of the Springhill Valley Homeowners Association and a Lafayette Community Foundation Board Member. Susan is a Nuclear Engineer by education and profession and currently works at Carl Zeiss X-Ray Microscopy in Dublin, California.

Lamorinda Village Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/886273476