Clayton Watch · 2026 Council Candidate · Final
Charlie Schmidt for Clayton City Council
An update on the Clayton City Council election. The candidates are set. The filing deadline closed at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 12.
With the filing period now closed, four candidates have stepped forward to serve the community: Councilmember Kim Trupiano, Planning Commissioner Maria Shulman, Amy Callaghan, and Charlie Schmidt.
Over the past month, Clayton Watch has examined the public record of each of these candidates and published what we found, from City records, our own files, and other background material. We have done this for every candidate.
Last up, Charlie Schmidt.
Charlie Schmidt has not held elected office in Clayton. Because there is no Council voting record to review, what follows is drawn from his own candidate statement rather than a records review. One item of public record concerning his recent appointment to the Planning Commission is noted below.
While pursuing his education in Chemistry, Schmidt lived in North Carolina, Nebraska, and Florida. He taught Chemistry at the University of Florida for more than 10 years and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the North American Pesticide Residue Workshop.
He is a 24-year resident of Clayton. He has been married more than 50 years, raised two children, and has two grandchildren. His daughter attended Diablo View Middle School and Clayton Valley High School.
Twenty-eight years of service as a retired Lt. Col. in planning and operations for the U.S. Army Reserve, he says, have made him a leader with the skill set to be a civil servant.
His current commitments to the City of Clayton include serving as a citizen volunteer on the Trails and Landscape Committee, his recent appointment as a Commissioner on the Planning Commission, and volunteering for Oktoberfest for more than 20 years. He says he will continue those efforts and hopes to support the city as a City Council candidate.
Commission
Commissioner, appointed July 2026 - but has not attended one meeting, nor has he been sworn in at this time.
Landscape
Citizen volunteer, Trails and Landscape Committee
Lt. Col. (Ret.), U.S. Army Reserve · 28 years, planning and operations
Chemistry instructor, University of Florida, 10+ years; Board of Directors, North American Pesticide Residue Workshop
Oktoberfest, 20+ years
24-year resident · married 50+ years · two children, two grandchildren
Absent from the City's Town Hall on the two tax measures.
On Wednesday, August 26, the City of Clayton held a Town Hall Meeting, “Let’s Talk About Clayton’s Future,” at which City staff presented on the proposed City sales tax measure and the Landscape Maintenance District renewal. These are the two revenue measures headed for the November ballot, and the largest financial questions in front of Clayton voters this year. Mr. Schmidt did not attend.
Absent from a second town hall the following night.
On Thursday, August 27, 2026, the City held its Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) Community Engagement Meeting. Mr. Schmidt did not attend that meeting either.
Source: City of Clayton Town Hall Meeting notice, claytonca.gov, August 26, 2026; City of Clayton Emergency Operations Plan Community Engagement Meeting notice, August 27, 2026; City of Clayton appointment record, June 2026.
Charlie Schmidt is one of four candidates who qualified for the November 2026 Clayton City Council ballot. That completes our review of the field.
By Clayton Watch, FPPC ID #1471612. Biographical details are drawn from a candidate statement provided by Charlie Schmidt and are the candidate’s own. Appointment and attendance items are drawn from City of Clayton records.
Where's Charlie when you need him? He seems disinterested.
ReplyDeleteHis signs are only on the lawns of the die-hard CBCA punch drinkers. They want a body on council that is loyal to the CBCA and nothing else. Charlie is a nice guy, but being CBCA-backed, funded, and supported does not make you qualified. The choice is clear: vote Kim and Maria!
ReplyDeleteThat line about necessary growth and keep the town's charm is the most overused line. It's so mealy mouthed. Why is he talking about that issue? We already went through the awful housing fight and his friends on CBCA won. Peter Cloven, Holly Tillman and Carl Wolfe gave Bill Jordan the extension to build his massive apartment complex. Every other project is moving forward and there are no real controversies with the exception of the townhomes at Peacock Creek. However that project has not caused the division Bill Jordan's Olivia project caused. Charlie is stuck in 2020. The Housing element is done. There are several projects in the works. But since he didn't really bother to understand what the Planning Commission has been doing, he's not familiar with all the projects. It appears his goal was to get on the Planning Commission without ever having attended a single meeting and then run for Council. Because he isn't familiar with what the important issues of today are for Clayton, one has to wonder if his real goal is to get on Council to advance the interests of the CBCA. The group still wants taxpayers to subsidize them even more. There are rumors they want to take over all city events and get paid with tax payer dollars. That would be a conflict of interest. All voters have to understand that while the CBCA does good things, too many members want to be involved in politics for the sole purpose of getting more freebies for the CBCA.
ReplyDeleteI understand there was a tax complaint filed against this CBCA group. Is that true? If so, I would sure like to read the complaint if somebody has it and can share it. - John & Kathy
DeleteWhat is the tax complaint? I thought they are a tax exempt non-profit. Charlie or Amy should respond.
DeleteA complaint was filed with the IRS. I have seen a notice Wolfe sent to CBCA people and the complaint itself. I hope that the IRS will take a serious look at what the CBCA has done. It's not a pretty picture. Truthfully, it should be completely dismantled. The leadership of that group are real dirtbags! Some members of the CBCA want the political garbage to stop, while others, like Wolfe, Cloven, Tillman, Heartly, Hayden Steiner, and others, want to continue with their political agenda. Their charitable status does not allow them to participate in politics of any kind; however, that is what they have done for years, and they are pushing really hard to get Amy and Charlie on the council. They are CBCA punch drinkers to the bone. Notice around town, it's CBCA people with their signs. This town can not go back to any form of CBCA leadership. The CBCA people who have led Clayton are the very reason the city is now losing money. Those leaders were always too focused on the happenings of the CBCA. This city and its residents need to keep the CBCA out of city government, or it will be defunct, just like the Pioneer paper.
DeleteAgreed!
ReplyDeleteCharlie seems like a great guy, but has no experience with city government. Clayton can’t afford to have inexperienced people on the council. Haven’t we learned from the past?
ReplyDeleteWolfe and Cloven remember them as two of the biggest idiots who walked Clayton streets
DeleteWhat does he mean by balance between progress and necessary growth.Necessary growth, according to who?
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to Peter Cloven? I heard he went into hiding after the people on this website. did a review on him. I’m so glad that we now have a resource to learn the truth about what’s taking place in our small little town. Thank you, Clayton Watch. I’ll be making a donation in the next few days. See you around town or on the courts..- Al
ReplyDeleteCloven is home watching all his "Who I am" videos.
DeleteCloven is busy being a douche bag, putting out lies and rumors. He is not a nice person!
DeleteCloven is the Stuart Smalley of Clayton. He's at home staring in the mirror saying, "i'm good enough, smart enough, and gosh darnit people like me!" What a baffoon.
DeleteWhat a shock...CW supports Trupiano and Shulman.
ReplyDeleteAlright, I am listening, please tell me why you think Amy and Charlie are a better choice.
DeleteThey are “not” a better choice. They have no experience, period. Why people are putting their signs up, just shows you how divided we really are. Voting party lines or for someone just because they belong to a non profit group just makes you look stupid. Vote for the ones that have experience. Kim and Maria have our family’s vote.
DeleteCBCA is a no vote. Watch the Wednesday meeting where the audience chose where to spend the city reserve. The CBCA people were too excited to fund recreation. The CBCA people complain at every meeting about the city funds but when given the chance want to spend the reserve on themselves. CBCA wants to control the city again. Don't let them.
ReplyDeleteTerri Denslow had the nerve to imply the concerts in the Grove were better when Geller ran them. The fact is that Geller never bothered to have real sponsors. Kim has gathered sponsors who are contributing over $50,000 in donations. She improved the concerts by adding a stage, improving bands, and hiring a promoter to run them. You are trying to argue that Geller did it better; he did not! Another fact: CBCA stopped donating to the concerts. Read that again to understand how they are framing their narrative. Their President also called the first-year sponsors and tried to torpedo donations to support the concert series, all because the CBCA wants to run ALL city-sponsored events. Remember that the CBCA's only goal is to run everything related to the city and its government.
DeleteSo true! I watched, and I was interested in what Maria wrote on the sign to the left. She wrote economic development. That seals the deal for me. Maria cares about this city and wants to see it thrive; she has my vote.
DeleteI remember when that happened. It was a shock that the organization put their political interests ahead of the good of the community. They actively tried to sabatoge city events so they could look better. Disgusting and shameful.
DeleteCharlie doesn't seem to be very engaged. If he can't even attend two very important city meetings last week and has not attended any council meetings or planning commission meeting, he must be to busy or to important to get involved. We don't another uninformed, inexperienced council member filling a slot. I am voting for Kim and Maria. Thank you Clayton Watch for all your hard work doing these reviews.
ReplyDeleteCharlie must be to busy putting up all those campaign signs to attend any meetings. He is probably to busy to serve on the city council. Maria and Kim are a better choice. They are both hard working and dedicated.
ReplyDeleteToo ma it off topic comments. Back to Charlie. Yes, he seems like a good guy but there are too many instances of him not being truly up to date on what’s going on. It’s very disconcerting he was not at the town hall for the landscape maintenance district or the proposed sales tax. That is probably the most important issue the city has going on. At this point it’s hard to put any faith into Charlie. Volunteering for Oktoberfest and for the CBCA does not qualify someone for city council.
ReplyDeleteLet see here we need someone that has Council experience? Then why Schulman? She is just on the PC. Although she does have a vision for Clayton by her vote to change zoning for higher density development (hidden in the Housing Element), which Trupiano touts as one of her big accomplishments. Of course, who can ignore the fine Council leadership that has led to the steady and dreadful demise of the landscaping all around the City? Although they do have a fine new fleet of maintenance trucks one can see driving around town usually with only or two crew in them. And what about the fine condition of the fountain? Wow that is some real "leadership with results". Who knows it just might be time for change? It quite possibly couldn't be any worse!
ReplyDelete