For the second time in two years, a member of the Folsom City Council is being accused of living outside the geographic boundaries they represent. In 2020, it was then councilman Roger Gaylord, who ended up resigning after he sold his house in Folsom and moved to El Dorado Hills. This time, questions are swirling around Michael Kozlowski, who is accused of residing outside newly created District 1.
Districts are a new thing in Folsom. The upcoming City Council election is the first one that won’t be conducted at large.
Kozlowski chose to run in District 1 where he owns a vacant lot and not in District 5, where his wife and kids are currently staying in a rental home.
“That decision means he won’t have to run against Folsom Mayor Kerri Howell, a member of the council whom Kozlowski has supported. Instead, he’ll face Mike Reynolds, the president of the Historic Folsom Residents Association,” the Sacramento Bee reports.
Kozlowski and his wife are building a house on the vacant lot and he says he’s been staying in a trailer there, overseeing construction. Neighbors cast doubts, saying they don’t see him coming or going.
Neighbors of the District 5 rental where his family is staying say they do see the councilman frequently. The assumption is that he’s actually living there.
“Why would a councilman live in a trailer? It doesn’t make any sense,” one person who lives next to the vacant lot told the Bee.
“Listen, I don’t advertise when I show up and when I leave, but my truck is parked there and I’m asleep in that trailer,” insists Kozlowski, who is an architect by trade. He says he’s there about five nights out of the week.
The Folsom City Council General Election will be held on November 8, 2022.