Election season for the year officially started on July 12, with candidates being able to pick up packets and file for candidacy. Waltonsmith has picked up a packet and intends to file. So has Aileen Kao, a former Saratoga Union School District member.

Two seats on the council fall vacant this year, but at this point no other residents have announced their intention to run for the office. Residents have until Aug. 6 to file for candidacy.

Waltonsmith was first appointed to the council when Mayor Jim Shaw died in August 1999. She was elected to the council in 2000.

She believes that her biggest achievement in the last four years was to maintain the quality of life as it exists in Saratoga. "I have tried to make a difference, and I think I have succeeded," said Waltonsmith.

She said she had also tried to solve some longstanding problems in the city like West Valley College's attempt to build a stadium on campus. She also talked about the effort to merge the two fire departments and the effort to resolve pollution in the creeks.

Waltonsmith said that if elected for a second term, she would try to provide more services for seniors. "I also want to help Saratoga come out of the budget morass," she said. She expressed the desire of leaving the city on a stronger financial footing if she is elected again.

Waltonsmith said that she was supporting Kao because their philosophical stance was the same. "I will be working with Aileen and running with her as partner," said Waltonsmith.

Kao served in the school district between 1998 and 2002. She said that she had been thinking about seeking a council seat for a while but made up her mind in the last couple of months. "I talked to city council members. I attended city council and planning commission meetings. I have tried to find out how the entire process works," said Kao.

Kao, a former program manager with Cisco, where she coordinated activities between the engineering and marketing divisions, said that she would like to see the city more integrated between longtime residents and families who have just moved to Saratoga.

"Every section of the city has different demands. We have to find a balance between the merchants and the homeowners, the old and the new," said Kao. She also talked about the changing demographics in the city and the need to reach out to the newer residents. "The challenge is to balance all this and still preserve the quality of life," said Kao.

She also said that she would be constantly thinking about ways to generate more revenue for the city if elected.

Kao is the first Chinese-American to run for the Saratoga City Council, according to Waltonsmith. She grew up in Tainan, in the southern part of Taiwan, before coming to the United States for graduate studies in 1976. She has lived in Saratoga since 1996.

Waltonsmith and Kao will soon be on the campaign trail, preparing statements, sending out fliers by mail and talking to people in neighborhoods over coffee.

Waltonsmith grew up in Saratoga and then lived in various parts of the country before moving back to Saratoga in 1982. She is a professional psychologist and works in an employee assistance program for a health proivder company. She also has a private practice in San Jose.

Bogosian, who is about to complete his second term on the city council, said he was probably inclined not to run for election again. A city advisory also discourages candidates from serving more than two terms on the council.

He said that he was displeased that the city had decided to put a utility-tax measure on the ballot in November.

"I feel that due diligence has not been done when it comes to looking at raising revenues. There are other ways to raise revenues apart from a utility tax," he said.

Bogosian, who served as mayor during his first term, said that he had constantly strived so that Saratoga could maintain its identity without being consumed by the region. "We were able to make City Hall more customer-service-oriented when I was mayor," said Bogosian.

Citizens will also vote on the utility-tax measure on Nov. 2. If it passes, Saratoga residents will see a 5 percent addition in costs to their utility bills.