Former Pacific Grove city councilwoman Susan Goldbeck has announced her plan to run for City Council– again. Goldbeck served on the council from 2002 to 2006 but lost her 2006 bid for mayor.

The terms of Mayor Dan Cort and councilmembers Susan Nilmeier, Daniel Davis and Scott Miller expire in November.

“Pacific Grove has been having some pretty tough seas lately,” says Goldbeck, a local attorney. “Maybe I can help get our little ship of state right again.”

Goldbeck says she would support the effort to get the city out of the Public Employees Retirement System, or PERS, which she calls a “big source of some of our problems,” and work to reconcile the needs of residents and businesses. She also hopes to establish a priority list for annually funded capital improvements.

In a town that has become divided between the progressive current leadership and the more conservative “old guard,” Goldbeck has in turn criticized and supported both camps. “I’m considered to be a maverick, but really I’m a moderate,” she says. “The balance needs to be there, and I think it can be.”

This story first appeared on www.montereycountyweekly.com.