The night before crews in Ross pulled dozens of campaign signs for two Town Council challengers, Mayor Julie McMillan texted the town manager asking her to have public works "take a look" at them, according to messages reported Friday, Oct. 16, by the San Francisco Chronicle.

McMillan, who is running for re-election on Nov. 3, has said she did not order the removals. She told the Chronicle she "did not 'direct' anyone to do anything."

Why it matters: Ross has three candidates for two council seats, and the fight over the signs is tangled up with the town's biggest local issue, whether to bring back its closed fire station.

What the texts say

Challenger Bob Herbst received the exchange this week through a public records request, the Chronicle reported.

The night before the Sept. 16 removal, McMillan texted Town Manager Christa Johnson: "Seems like there are lots of Bob & Paul signs in the Town's right of way. Could you please ask public works to take a look?"

The next morning, Johnson replied that 40 signs had just been removed. "I hope this isn't going to be a game all fall," she wrote. "Plaster signs on the weekend when staff isn't there."

McMillan answered: "Thank you! They are very bad actors."

The mayor's response

At a Sept. 23 council meeting, McMillan said she "did not order the removal of any sign," the Marin Independent Journal reported.

Asked whether the texts contradict that, she told the Chronicle: "I simply asked the Town Manager to 'ask Public Works to take a look,' as Councilmembers do with many other issues."

She said "bad actors" referred to the candidates not following town rules, and pointed to a large banner Herbst and Paul Roesler hung on the Ross Common baseball backstop in August.

The town's rule

Ross bans all signs, political or commercial, in public rights of way under a 65-year-old ordinance, first adopted in 1961, the IJ reported. Johnson told the council in September that staff do not consider sign content and that council candidates were told about the rule in July.

Lawn signs for a "Marin Fashion Night" event were taken down at the same time, a former council member wrote, according to the IJ. The council sent the ordinance's notice rules to a subcommittee for review.

A censure push

Council members Elizabeth Robbins and Matt Salter have questioned the removals. "It looks like the town is trying to blunt support for candidates," Robbins said in September.

Salter told the Chronicle he plans to propose censuring McMillan at the council's next meeting, nine days after the election. A censure is a formal rebuke and does not remove anyone from office.

The fire station behind it all

Herbst and Roesler, running as a slate, want to restore fire service. Ross closed its Spanish Revival firehouse in July 2025, a move McMillan supported; a town consultant estimated a new one could cost up to $17.5 million, a figure Herbst disputes, the Chronicle reported.

More Marin races and measures are on our Bay Area Election 2026 hub, including Marin Healthcare Measure CC.