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News from the City of Carlsbad | Jan. 2, 2025

First and foremost, Happy New Year!

I’m honored to begin 2025 as your City Manager and very much looking forward to taking you along as we work to keep Carlsbad the wonderful community that it is.

Our city meeting schedule for the year kicks off next week with two city commissions, while the first City Council meeting is set for Tuesday, Jan. 14. More details are toward the end of this week’s edition.

I wanted to begin, however, with articles that center around fresh starts for the new year, including:

• How the city can help you pursue some of your potential New Year’s resolutions
• Ways to safely dispose of some of your old electronics if you just got some new ones
• Our cybersecurity director explains how to protect yourself online in 2025

Here’s all that’s in store in this week’s update:

• Connect with others on your new year goals
• Service profile: Protecting Carlsbad from cyber threats
• Recycle or donate old electronics
• Protect yourself from scam artists
• Apply to fill vacancies on these city boards or commissions
• Carlsbad budget wins prestigious award 
• Upcoming city meetings
• Honoring President Carter

Connect with others on your new year goals

If you’re making New Year’s resolutions this holiday season, pursuing them with friends can boost your chances for success. The City of Carlsbad can help by connecting you with others in our community who share your same goals and interests. Here are five ways to do it:

1. Goal: Stay active. The city offers all kinds of recreation programs to support healthy living, including yoga classes, sports leagues, aquatic programs and dance classes where you work out together. See the full schedule and choose the one that’s right for you. You can also get your steps in on the 67 miles of city trails and meet other nature lovers through our trail volunteer program.
2. Goal: Make new friends. If you’re 50 or older, our Community Friendship Builders group meets at the Carlsbad Senior Center on the second and fourth Fridays of the month at 11 a.m. for engaging activities and conversation designed to spark friendships. 
3. Goal: Read more. If reading more is one of your New Year’s resolutions, then your choices to find a book that hooks you just grew exponentially. Carlsbad City Library cardholders now have access to more than nine million additional titles from libraries across the state and in Nevada through a service called LINK+. If you need some extra motivation, join the Carlsbad City Library's Winter Reading Challenge. Throughout January, track your minutes read and earn prizes for yourself or to share with a friend or family member.
4. Goal: Learn a new hobby. Indulge your inner artist with a class on ancient Japanese brush painting or, for adults 50+, a variety of art classes, from ceramics to oil painting. Enhance your tech skills by attending one of our upcoming workshops at the Exploration Hub at the Dove Library.
5. Goal: Give back to the community. The city is hosting a volunteer expo on Saturday, Jan. 11, at the Cole Library to connect residents with several local nonprofit organizations doing good work in our community. Learn about volunteer opportunities and how to get involved.

Volunteer expo

Saturday, Jan. 11

10:30 a.m. to noon

Cole Library

1250 Carlsbad Village Drive

Service profile: Protecting against cyber threats

As a public agency, the City of Carlsbad is targeted by hackers thousands of times a day. Fortunately, the city’s IT Security Manager Chris Larson is on the job to thwart those attempts. 

Chris oversees the city’s cybersecurity through a variety of strategies, including a system that automatically blocks most hacking attempts from reaching city staff email inboxes. For the hacking attempts that do get through, Chris works alongside staff to identify and report suspicious messages that try to trick people into opening attachments or clicking on links that allow hackers to infiltrate city systems.

“Carlsbad city staff embrace cybersecurity,” Chris said. “People will report emails and suspicious things that they see. It makes my job a lot easier when I have all these other eyes out there watching out for the city.”

Chris joined the City of Carlsbad about a year ago after working for a community college district in Orange County. He says he is drawn to public service because he wants to support the community and ensure public services are safe.

Keeping with that sense of service, Chris caught up with our staff to share how community members can stay safe online. Here are five ways people can protect themselves online in the coming year.

1. Turn on multi-factor authentication – Multi-factor authentication means that to log into a website or app, you must take an additional verification step that often involves entering a code that comes to you separately through a text or email. That way, if your password is stolen somewhere else, a hacker can’t just log in to your accounts everywhere without that second text or email direct to you. And if they try, you’ll be alerted.
2. Report suspicious text messages – Scammers will send texts claiming to be from major retailers or delivery services saying a package or address isn’t on file and that you need to click a link to add missing information. Report those as spam or junk on your phone so they can be blocked. If you do feel that you need to verify an address, don’t respond to the text and instead lookup the company directly and use the contact information on their website.
3. Regularly update software on devices – The latest software updates on computers and smartphones include fixes to previously discovered vulnerabilities.
4. Limit what you share on social media – Hackers are known to search social sites for information they can use to impersonate you. Minimizing the amount of sensitive information you put online can make that harder, as can limiting the number of people who can view your profile.
5. Look closely at the web, return email address and phone numbers – An email you receive or website you visit may mimic a major bank, retailer or shipping service, but looking closely at the URL or return address could reveal clues that it’s not legitimate. For instance, the domain may not end in .com and instead may have letters you don’t recognize. That’s a clue that it could be fake and meant to mislead you into potentially sharing sensitive information.

Chris says none of these strategies is completely secure but can go a long way toward protecting you and your personal information from hackers for years to come.  

Recycle or donate your old electronics

Speaking of electronics, if you got a new phone, TV or other electronic device over the holidays, remember you should never put e-waste like old electronics or batteries in your trash cart. The City of Carlsbad offers convenient ways to recycle your e-waste, which helps protect the environment and keeps your data safe.

3 ways to handle old electronics

1. Drop off e-waste. Take electronic waste, including broken holiday lights, to the Palomar Transfer Station at 5960 El Camino Real (access via Orion Road), Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
2. Schedule a pickup. Carlsbad residents can call 760-332-6464 to schedule an e-waste collection through Republic Services up to three times a year, with up to five items collected each time. 
3. Consider donating. Donate your outdated but working devices to charitable organizations or thrift stores so they can find a new home instead of ending up in a landfill. 

Note: Always erase personal data from your devices before recycling or donating them.

How to recycle batteries

Alkaline batteries

• Place regular household batteries in a clear plastic bag on top of your blue recycling cart on your regular trash collection day. (Because of New Year’s Day, if your regular trash day is Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, your pickup will be delayed by one day this week.)

Lithium-ion batteries

Lithium-ion batteries — the rechargeable batteries used to power laptops, e-bikes and other items – are considered hazardous household waste so they require special care when it comes to disposal.



• Drop-off location: Take them to the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility at 1145 E. Taylor St., Vista, Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Door-to-door service: Schedule a pickup for $10 (free for residents 65 and older) by calling 800-714-1195.

Sticking with the theme of New Year’s resolutions, I know that clearing out old or unused items around the house is a big one. While this week covered electronics, in future updates I’ll explain how to get rid of other common household items like paint, furniture and hazardous waste. 

Protect yourself from scam artists

From time to time, we get notified that someone is going door to door, pretending to represent the city. This week, some residents in Carlsbad got the notice below on their front doors. If you ever get something similar, it’s always best to go straight to the source, just like with our cybersecurity tips. 

Similarly, if someone comes to your door claiming to be from the city, please give us a call to confirm. These days it’s easy to get what looks like an official uniform and ID card. 

You can call City Hall at 442-339-2820 during business hours and our non-emergency police line 24/7 at 442-339-2197. Please put these numbers in your phone so you have them handy.



In the meantime, we have notified our Police Department so they can keep an eye out for any additional notices being distributed or other unusual activities.

Apply to fill vacancies on these city boards and commissions

If you’d like to get more involved with local government in the new year, several City of Carlsbad advisory boards, commissions and committees will have scheduled vacancies in 2025 when terms expire for some existing members.

• The city’s boards and commissions are made up of Carlsbad residents who volunteer their time to study issues and policies and advise the City Council on matters that affect our community.
• Members are selected by the City Council.
• The main requirement is to be registered to vote in Carlsbad, although some have additional criteria.
• You can apply online for multiple boards, commissions or committees, but you cannot serve on more than one at a time.
• Applications for the year opened Jan. 1 and will be active through Dec. 31.
• You can also sign up for the board and commission vacancy newsletter to keep tabs on when specific recruitments begin and to learn of any unscheduled vacancies that may arise. 

See the full list of scheduled vacancies. 

City budget wins prestigious award

The City of Carlsbad’s annual budget has been recognized by the top authority in government accounting for the 18th year in a row. The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada has a long list of criteria that emphasizes sound financial planning and transparency.

• The award is the highest form of recognition in governmental budgeting.
• Each year, the city prepares a budget that details where the money comes from to fund city services and the spending plan for that money in the year ahead.
• The award goes to cities that present a budget that also serves as a guide for policy, financial planning, operations and a way to communicate its plans to the community.

In November, the city’s annual financial report was also recognized with a top award from the association. That award highlighted the way the city helped the community understand Carlsbad’s fiscal condition as well as how actual revenues and spending compared to what was forecasted. This marks the 27th year in a row and 34th time overall the city’s annual report has gotten top honors.

Upcoming city meetings

The next City Council meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 14, at 5 p.m. in the City Council Chamber, but two of our boards and commissions — the Traffic Safety & Mobility Commission and the Housing Commission – are scheduled to meet next week.

You can see the full meeting schedule on our city calendar. These meetings are livestreamed on the city’s website and available to watch afterward.

Honoring President Carter

On Sunday, former President Jimmy Carter passed away at the age of 100.

President Carter dedicated his life to service. He advanced world peace, civil and human rights and democracy. He also worked tirelessly to rid the world of disease and help end homelessness. President Carter kept pursuing these goals long after his term ended.  

This week we honor the legacy of our 39^th President, who passed away at the age of 100 on Dec. 29. 

As a proud government nerd, I take great pride in my bona fides, which include meeting every President who has served during my lifetime. I had the honor of meeting President Jimmy Carter twice, once in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, and once when he was hosting a retreat for the Carter Center in San Diego. My girls, 6 and 4 at the time, were with me and had a chance to take a photo with President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.

An experienced grandfather, the President scooped up my youngest, Kara, and put her on his lap for the photo. We still chuckle looking back at the family photograph with the Carters. This cherished memory got better when a few weeks later, to our surprise, the girls each received in the mail a copy of the photograph signed to them by the 39^th President and the First Lady.

Only 45 people have ever served as President of the United States in the 235 years since George Washington became our first. This month, we honor the passing of one and recognize his service to our country.

Flags at government buildings will be lowered to half-staff for 30 days, as required by a Presidential Proclamation authorized by President Eisenhower in 1954. He directed that flags be lowered for 30 days to honor the passing of former Presidents of the United States.

That’s all for this week. Happy New Year, and here’s to a very successful 2025.

Geoff Patnoe

City Manager

P.S. Thank you to those who continue to write in such welcoming emails. They mean the world.