Clayton Watch · 2026 Council Candidate · No. 3
Amy Callaghan for Clayton
City Council
An update on the Clayton City Council election. The Candidates are set for Clayton City Council. The filing deadline for the Clayton City Council election officially closed at 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, August 12.
With the filing period now, four candidates, Councilmember Kim Trupiano, Planning Commissioner Maria Shulman, Amy Callaghan, and Charlie Schmidt have stepped forward to serve our community.
Next up, Amy Callaghan. She has not held elected office in Clayton and does not sit on a City commission. Because there is no public record to review, what follows is drawn from her own candidate statement and professional background.
Amy Callaghan has spent thirty years managing other people’s buildings, budgets, and contracts. She is asking to do the same work for the city she has called home since 1992.
A business degree, a broker’s license, and a professional designation.
Callaghan graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Phoenix online school. She holds a current California Department of Real Estate Broker License and is certified by the Building Owners and Managers Association as a Real Property Administrator.
The RPA is the industry credential for people made responsible for the financial performance of buildings they do not own.
Her largest portfolio ran 2.5 million square feet across six cities on a $24 million budget.
That portfolio carried roughly $24 million in revenue against $8 million in operating expenses, plus a capital outlay of between $3 and $5 million every year. Over her career she has managed properties in 38 cities, from Gilroy to Roseville and Petaluma to Stockton.
Clayton’s entire general fund is a fraction of the budget she has been accountable for. She has read a balance sheet that size every month of her career.
She writes and operates the kind of contracts a city lives and dies by.
Callaghan writes and administers leases and vendor contracts, and coordinates between landlords and tenants, owners and vendors. She works with hundreds of vendors across the Bay Area, on everything from large HVAC maintenance agreements and major landscape projects down to indoor plant service.
She is trained to read, review, and approve construction documents, and has managed millions of dollars in property improvements and full redevelopments. Contracts, capital projects, and vendor oversight are most of what a small city actually does.
It started with the sidewalks.
Callaghan and her husband Chris walk their dogs through Clayton’s neighborhoods and trails, and over the years watched the sidewalks and trails deteriorate. The busy intersection near their home had needed attention for years, with promised improvements long overdue. When the project finally showed signs of life, she started attending City Council meetings to follow it.
What she learned in those meetings is why she is running.
Her position: find every dollar Clayton is already owed before asking residents for more.
Callaghan says City reserves have been steadily depleted, and that Federal and State grant funds have been held, missed, or left unused because of gaps in staffing continuity and institutional knowledge. Those are dollars Clayton residents have already paid through their Federal and State taxes.
On the sales tax measure now before voters, her position is that the Council is trying to address a real problem, but that before asking neighbors to pay more, the City owes them a thorough review of its financial history, contracts, and assessed needs. That review is the work she does for a living.
Clayton is where she grew up, got married, and came back to raise her children.
Her parents moved the family to Clayton in 1992, just before her senior year of high school. She left in 1995 to live on her own, married Chris in a backyard ceremony here, and in 2002 bought a home in Clayton because she wanted to raise her children in it. Their children, Haley and Alex, carried the family further into the community through school plays, sports, chorus, and art shows.
Her mother Vicki still calls Clayton home. After her father Bob passed in 2015, Vicki built an addition above the garage to stay close to her sister Erika’s family next door. Three generations, one town.
She has been pouring the wine and selling the tickets for fifteen years.
Callaghan has volunteered at the Art & Wine Festival and Oktoberfest for at least fifteen years, and at the Fourth of July and Clayton Pride parades. She volunteered in her children’s classrooms and with parent club events at every school they attended. She and Chris have played bocce since the courts opened in 2014.
She is an active member of the CBCA. In 2024 the Callaghans opened their home for the Clayton Historical Society’s first Halloween Tour, and this year were featured on its Annual Garden Tour.
In her own words
“Clayton isn’t just where I live, it’s who I am.”
Keep Clayton moving forward.
By Clayton Watch, FPPC ID #1471612. Biographical and professional details are drawn from Ms. Callaghan’s candidate statement; characterizations of the City’s finances are hers. Conclusions are the opinions of the committee.
Amy represents the CBCA’s manipulative attempt to re-enter city governance. I outright oppose anyone backed and led by the CBCA. It’s well established that Wolfe, Hayden, and Geller are controlling Amy’s every move, to the extent that Wolfe is requesting a paid live-streaming candidates night with the League of Women Voters. Remember, Wolfe is the president of the CBCA and persistently interferes in city politics. I strongly urge CBCA members and affiliates to focus solely on their core mission of charity and community service; their 501(c)(3) status explicitly prohibits political grandstanding.
ReplyDeleteIs she not aware that if Clayton fails to meet a grant deadline, the opportunity will be lost? Furthermore, does she recognize who our President is and the extent to which he has reduced state and federal grants and funding? Are you perhaps disconnected from reality, Amy?
ReplyDeleteOn the sales tax measure now before voters, her position is that the Council is trying to address a real problem, but that before asking neighbors to pay more, the City owes them a thorough review of its financial history, contracts, and assessed needs. That review is the work she does for a living. She is behind of what the city is doing. She really embarrassed herself when she spoke at the last council meeting. Bringing up the civil grand jury report and the word transparency all because the city was working on and creating a new website. Had she been involved all along she would have known about the website and that all the contracts with the city were already reviewed this past year. She appears to be running on old issues. Mike & Barb
ReplyDeleteThe University of Phoenix is an accredited university, so this isn't about whether someone's degree is legitimate. It's about whether credentials on paper automatically translate into effective municipal financial management.
ReplyDeleteClayton has already learned that lesson. Former City Manager Bret Prebula also held a degree from the University of Phoenix, yet during his tenure the City experienced serious financial and budgeting problems. The City's books were reportedly out of balance for an extended period, and there were significant questions about the budgeting and financial forecasting process.
So when a candidate emphasizes that financial review is what she does professionally, voters should look beyond the résumé. Credentials are one thing. Understanding Clayton's finances, knowing what work has already been completed, and demonstrating command of the City's current financial situation are another.
And that's the larger concern: she appears to be campaigning on problems the City has already spent considerable time identifying and addressing.
So is the University Phoenix an online school? Why didn’t she not disclose this on her webpage. My wife noticed it right away. Why was she hiding this? She should be proud of her education.
DeleteIf contracts, leases, etc. are her specialty, why didn't she notice how outdated the contract was between the City of Clayton and the CBCA? Seems like she should have been all over that. And again, if that's her specialty, why was she against a new updated contract?
ReplyDelete