Meet Bill

By Bill Baber

Brief Bio

La Mesa Family

Bill Baber and his wife Jean, their daughters Hope, Karis, and Joy, and their son Isaac have lived in La Mesa for the past 16 years. All four Baber children were educated in La Mesa public schools.

School Board Trustee

Bill has served as a trustee of the La Mesa-Spring Valley School Board since 2003. He was Board President in 2007 and 2012 and serves on the Budget Study Committee. He is a member of the School-City Joint Steering Committee to help build a new Boys & Girls Club for La Mesa and to improve Highwood Park. Bill is part of the governing team that established the La Mesa Arts Academy at La Mesa Middle School.

La Mesa Commissioner

Bill is the Chair of the La Mesa Environmental Sustainability Commission and has served on the Commission since 2008.

Municipal Law Expert

Bill was admitted to the California Bar as an attorney in 1990 and helped draft municipal law reforms in cities throughout San Diego County including city charters, fair and open competition ordinances, and ethics ordinances. He currently serves as the Government Affairs Director for the Associated Builders and Contractors of San Diego.

Bill is a former adviser to the San Diego Mayor and City Council. He coordinated the City's Rules Committee from 2000 + 2005. During that time Bill managed the San Diego City Council's docket process and worked on dozens of municipal issues. He also served as special counsel to the cities of Escondido and Coronado. Bill is a former analyst at the Federal Election Commission in Washington, D.C.

Bill wrote the La Mesa Term Limits Ordinance and managed the successful campaign to qualify the initiative for the November 2014 ballot.

Taxpayer Advocate

Bill represents the San Diego Tax Payers Association on bond oversight committees for the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District and the Lemon Grove School District.

He led the efforts to reform his school district's bond financing policies and worked with the County Treasurer and state legislators to change state law to protect taxpayers from capital appreciation bond abuses.

Bill helped save local taxpayers up to $650,000 as part of the team that restructured the school district's bond debt.

He is committed to preserving the taxpayer protections of Prop 13.