Growing up, Barbara Nesbet remembers her mother taking the television with her to Monte Sereno City Council meetings. Helen Nesbet, a council member in the 1970s, didn't want her three daughters to watch TV when she wasn't home, so she stored the device in her car while she ran the city. Meetings were on Tuesday nights back then, Nesbet said, "which was a good TV night," with Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley.

Although Nesbet doesn't have children of her own to take the TV away from, she's followed in her late mother's footsteps by serving on the council and becoming mayor.

"It would have been a lot less likely for me to do what I did without what she did," Nesbet said of her mother, who was one of the first female leaders in Monte Sereno.

In fact, Nesbet says, she has enjoyed her first term so much that she's vying with four other candidates for a seat in the 2002 race. "It takes an enormous amount of time and there's some frustration sometimes, but it's rewarding," Nesbet said. "There's still a lot to be done."

The main challenge, Nesbet says, is to make sure that Monte Sereno is "being respected as a city."

"Monte Sereno was created because residents didn't want to be eaten by Saratoga, San Jose and Los Gatos," Nesbet said. "Monte Sereno really needs to bite the bullet and say, 'Hey, we're a city. You've got to respect us for it.' "

Last year Nesbet made her stance clear when she opposed the county's proposal to move the city from supervisorial District 1 to supervisorial District 5. The problem was, Nesbet says, that the county never notified Monte Sereno, in writing or otherwise, that it was going to be moved. On the other hand, if it had been one of the parts of San Jose that were up for redistricting, that city would have been notified.

"I find that to be inexcusable," Nesbet said at the time.

Nesbet also wants to improve the quality of life of Monte Sereno residents and lower their sense of isolation. "As a small city, we give to Los Gatos for after-school programs, but I think there could be more that we could do there," Nesbet said.

Nesbet tries to attend as many regional meetings and conferences as possible. If reelected, she hopes Monte Sereno will make more of a regional impact. Nesbet wants to join the Valley Transportation Authority board in the near future, with the vision of remedying the problems that recent service cuts and fee increases have caused. As an example of something that needs changing, Nesbet points out the fact that she cannot take the bus from her home to downtown Los Gatos, two miles away.

Other challenges that Nesbet foresees may arise from major decisions that the council has made in the past year. Nesbet wants to make sure that the newly revamped Monte Sereno Site and Architecture Commission, with citizen members, works properly. Public feedback has been good so far.

Constructing a stoplight at Winchester Boulevard and Daves Avenue creates more problems that the council will have to address, Nesbet says, such as increased traffic on Daves.

A third major issue is affordable housing in the city. The city's General Plan has a housing element—a plan to create more affordable housing—and the city has added to the housing fund, but Nesbet says something else needs to be done.

She is proud of the past four years, however. She points to the site and architecture commission as one of the current council's major accomplishments. Neighbors now communicate with homeowners more, and, due to the recent implementation of story poles in local development, residents are able to see how proposed projects will look and voice their opinions on developments before they're constructed.

"We had several decisions where all parties walked away from the table feeling like they had succeeded," Nesbet said.

Nesbet is also proud of the now-unified city council, which was "very divisive" when she came on board in 1998. "Hopefully we've moved away from that—grown up," Nesbet said.

As the freshman council member in 1998, Nesbet says she already knew that she needed to do her research on city issues. "Never trust anything, and make sure you read everything. Asking questions can drive people nuts, but I believe it's diligence," Nesbet said. "That sort of thoroughness has been indoctrinated in me in my legal training."

What she's learned, however, are general lessons that can be applied to any municipality. Nesbet says she's convinced that a closer look needs to be taken at political finance reform. "I'm very concerned that it costs so much for good people to get into office," Nesbet said. Campaign contributions mean "playing with fire, and it creates a bad situation for those not involved in the situation," Nesbet said.

In Monte Sereno, campaigning for council has not been as fast and furious as it has been in other communities, but Nesbet says signing ethics pledges is a key component of running and being involved in civics. "I believe ethical campaigns are the only way that we can keep the population believing in what we're doing," Nesbet said.

"The democratic process is a real big passion of mine," Nesbet said. "We really need to work to get more people involved in the process, whether it's running for council or getting to the polls to vote."

Nesbet's other passions include supporting the arts in schools. "Music, art, dance—it adds a different element to the brain and it brings another way of looking at things," Nesbet said. Still a viola player, Nesbet was in the California Youth Symphony before she graduated from Los Gatos High School in 1986.

In her rare spare time, Nesbet prefers to take things easy—reading a good book, working on her garden, or spending time with friends and her nieces.

Whatever she does, Nesbet tries to stay close to Monte Sereno.

"It's always been home. It's always a nice place to come back to and a hard place to leave," Nesbet said. "Whenever I see the hills and mountains, it's like, 'Wow, what a great place to live.' "

Barbara Nesbet

Age: 33

Occupation: Attorney

Education: Bachelor's degree in history and literature from Harvard University; law degree from UC-Davis; MBA from UC-Davis

Community Involvement: Monte Sereno councilwoman since 1998; member of the Santa Clara County Library board; chairwoman of Services for Brain Injury; chairwoman of a Children and Families First Commission committee; past member of the Monte Sereno Site and Architecture Commission; past member of the West Valley Sanitation District board

Family: Two sisters, four nieces