MENDOCINO CO., 5/14/26 — Ukiah business owner Todd Lyly will be on the primary election ballot for Mendocino County’s Board of Supervisors for the 5th district. Lyly was a late entry into the race, tossing in his hat just three months before the election on June 2.
Lyly will be challenging incumbent Ted Williams and Gualala Municipal Advisory councilmember Kevin Evans.
A Mendocino native who grew up in Fort Bragg before moving to Potter Valley and finally the unincorporated part of Ukiah, which is represented by the 5th District, Lyly said he was inspired to run for supervisor after listening to the needs of customers and fellow business owners who would come into his auto repair shop.
Lyly is mainly focused on reforming the construction permitting process in Mendocino County.
“The permitting process, it takes so long. I’ve seen a lot of people move out of the county or out of the state, not wanting to build a house or start their business here because of that.” said Lyly in a candidate forum co-sponsored by Mendo Local Public Media and the Independent Coast Observer.
He believes arduous building approval processes and exorbitant fees have hindered the county’s business development, and thereby its economy.
“If we have more houses, and more people building houses, not just low-income stuff, you’ve got more people paying back into the system through taxes, through purchases, property taxes… If they’re attracted here for a decent paying job and we had them here, that’s the basis of everything we’ve got…we need to bring back the industry.”
Additionally, Lyly believes that reinvestment into the timber industry could bring more money into the county and grow Mendocino’s tax base.
On his website, Lyly also highlights the need for road repair and increasing wildfire preparedness funding. He argues that Ukiah has taken a disproportionate share of transportation spending, and calls for a transparent “Road Fix Tracker” website that displays every road project, along with its budget and completion date.
He also stresses his disapproval of the Ukiah annexation, writing in a campaign pamphlet that he “strongly oppose[s] Ukiah annexation that drains tax revenue from rural services.”
More information about Lyly’s campaign is available at lylyfordistrict5.com.
This story has been updated to note that the candidate forum at which Lyly spoke was co-sponsored byMendo Local Public Media and the Independent Coast Observer.
“we need to bring back the industry.” – Last time someone said we need to bring back XYZ industry our economy tanked and the cost of living sky rocketed… If I were a betting man, he is the one candidate who will make sure Mendocino County gets a Data center that chugs thousands of gallons of water daily under the guise of simplifying permits in the county.
Have you met Todd Lyly or talked to him even one time?… Say what you will about a lot of things, or about him. I’m just saying if you talked to him for about 2 minutes you’d realize he most definitely is not the type to go for a data center! 🤣🤦♀️ and when was the last time anyone said let’s bring back an industry? Or even better when was the last time an industry even DID “come back” around here 🤔
“Lyly believes that reinvestment into the timber industry could bring more money into the county and grow Mendocino’s tax base.”
Same same….
.and he wants to frankenstein it back to life …
it costs about $700/sq ft to build a modest home these days
who are all these people libed up to build a house?
they dont exist
it doesn’t take long to get a permit if you have at least 1 year to wait to do soils engineering
all new construction needs to be sprinkled too
even off grid
what a joke
noone is lined up out the door at the bldg and planning dept trying to get a building permit
the county has rot at the center of its public sector, entitlement and nepotism
put the county into recievership from the state
How about running on no more property taxes! If AI is going to take all our jobs and we all wind up on UBI the least thing we could do is remove property taxes so we don’t all get evicted from the homes we bought and built.
rural CA and the north coast are in a death spiral
these baffoons are going to spend
5 Billion dollars on the great redwood trail
they could have used the 5 bil to juice the economy with small businesses
renewable projects whatever
instead its all going to consultants etc
libs and repubs agree 100% on 1 thing in mendo
NO
no growth no new jobs
there is literally no businesses who want to relocate or expand into ukiah valley
“no growth no new jobs
there is literally no businesses who want to relocate or expand into ukiah valley”
Let’s expand on this and say the whole country has had no growth and no new jobs
” there is literally no businesses who want to relocate or expand into” – the USA
Saving a community tax a billionaire?
mendocino put itself in a position where all it has to offer economically is
tourism and low pay service jobs on the coast
and the school to prison pipeline inland with the new $150 million injustice center and
soon to be taxpayer funded new jail!
see opportunities for the youth to be both customers and employees
that’s what we are doing
Burp
There is a bond measure A on the ballot to expand the Mendocino College Willits campus to provide job training for fire science, wildland firefighting, and sustainable construction programs – jobs for locals.
GP and LP left the county when they ran out of trees to cut, leaving us with a really toxic and expensive mess to clean up. The fishing industry took a big hit from the loss of good, cool spawning streams when too many of the trees were taken. We don’t have the fog we once had, the streams are silted up, and the oceans are overheating. I don’t think we need to invite the timber industry back to do more damage, so that leaves tourism. The Redwood Trail will be a boon to our economy. Todd is right about the Planning & Building Dept. being too onerous.