By Khalida Sarwari
Newly appointed Saratoga Mayor Jill Hunter loves history so much she made the subject her major in college. Her fondness for history is reflected in the things she loves most about the city she’s lived in for 31 years–from its hills and trees to the quaint downtown.
Now that she’s taken the helm, Hunter wants to maintain the historic qualities of Saratoga.
“I’m a preservationist,” Hunter said. “I love the history of Saratoga.”
Hunter was unanimously selected as Saratoga’s 33rd mayor by the Saratoga City Council on Dec. 5, replacing two-time Mayor Chuck Page. Councilwoman Emily Lo was selected as vice mayor. Two weeks after she was sworn in by Assemblyman Paul Fong, Hunter was still all smiles at the opportunity to lead a city that she loves to call home.
“I am so proud to be a part of this community,” said Hunter, naming Hakone Gardens, Villa Montalvo and the Mountain Winery as some of her favorite features. “It’s an honor to be mayor of one of the best communities in the country–and such a diverse community.”
Saratogans shouldn’t expect to see many changes in the next year. Hunter said she wants to preserve the city’s “small-town feeling,” although she would like to see a new healthy food market.
She also wants to see more flowers in the city. One of her dreams is to enter Saratoga into America in Bloom, an annual nationwide competition that promotes community beautification programs through the use of flowers, plants, and trees. Arbor Day will be a big event in 2013, she said.
But Hunter also wants ideas to come from the community. One opportunity to share those ideas will be on Jan. 25 at the annual Saratoga City Council retreat at the Saratoga Prospect Center. She encouraged all residents to attend and share their thoughts.
“I want every Saratogan to feel as though they’re being heard,” she said. “I really am happy to hear what people want to do. I want to celebrate what Saratoga is.”
One key focus for the council will be updating the safety element in the city’s General Plan. Planning commissioners are also considering a new development that includes a preschool for 300 children.
Prior to serving two terms on the council, Hunter served on the planning commission for five years and on the heritage preservation commission. Community activism has always been a part of her life, she said.
“I like people who take an interest in their city and speak their mind,” she said. “I had an opinionated mother and father, so it was just ingrained in me that I should be that way, too.”
The new mayor’s roots can be traced to Hudson Valley, N.Y., a community where “everything was about history” and where history was a big part of Hunter’s upbringing.
She attended all-girls schools, where she met people from all over the world. She attended high school with one of Ronald Reagan’s daughters and graduated with a degree in history from Newton College of the Sacred Heart, which today is known as Boston College.
She taught for awhile, then married her college sweetheart, Dennis, and moved to California in the mid-1960s. They settled in Sunnyvale. This would mark the first of many moves across the country for the couple. After having her first son, Jeff, the family returned to the East Coast, where she had another son, Craig, and then moved again to Los Angeles, where the family lived for the next 11 years. During those years, Hunter was active in the schools.
In 1981, Hunter’s husband accepted a job at Applied Materials, and the family moved to Saratoga with their children, including their third son, Chris. A fourth son, Trevor, was born soon afterward, and the family has remained in the city since. Hunter wasted no time getting involved in Saratoga’s civic life, joining the Saratoga Union School District Board, where she served for 10 years.
Saratogans should expect a quiet year, but Mayor Jill Hunter says she’s willing to listen
