By admin 
Longtime city councilmember Jayna Karpinski-Costa — a veterinarian and attorney who has twice served as the city’s mayor — seeks another term on Citrus Heights’ city council, but faces a challenger for the 4th District seat.
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Susan Powers, a business owner and treasurer of the local chamber of commerce, is running on a platform of public transparency and promises to bring in new businesses and oppose tax hikes.
Karpinski-Costa was elected to the council in 2004, re-elected in 2008, and again in 2022.
Where is the Citrus Heights 4th District?
District 4 is bordered to the west by Interstate 80 and Van Maren Lane, and extends east to Sunrise Boulevard. Its northern border follows the city boundary, and to the south it extends down to Highland Avenue.
Who are the candidates?
Karpinski-Costa is a small animal veterinarian, attorney and multi-term city councilmember. She served as mayor in 2011, part of 2024 and 2025.
She grew up in Massachusetts and attended law school at Santa Clara University. She moved to the area in the 1980s after law school, and met her husband here. They moved to Citrus Heights in 1991, and discovered a rural atmosphere that appealed to her.
“When we got here in 1991, I lived on a private dirt road. There was a cow at the end of my street when we looked at the property,” she said. “People have horses on my street. I felt like this was where I needed to be.”
She soon became involved in local civic issues, and served on a number of local boards before running for the council for the first time in 2004.
“Every time they needed a citizens group, I raised my hand,” she said.
Karpinski-Costa was elected to the council in 2004 and 2008. She decided to run again in 2022, she said, after hearing a presentation by Citrus Heights’ city manager, Ash Feeney, who had been appointed earlier that year.
“I went, ‘Oh my God, look at this… This guy has got plans for our city, and I want to be part of it,’” she said. “Look how beautiful our city is getting. He hired a team of great people. Our staff is incredible. Our staff gets grants. We are doing projects. We win awards.”
If elected in November, Karpinski said it will likely be her last term. The city, she believes, will likely be “well on our way” with Sunrise Mall redevelopment project in four years.
“I think that’s my mission,” she said.
Karpinski-Costa remains licensed as a veterinarian, though she says she has less than a handful of clients. She’s recognizable for the distinctive hats she wears, which were inherited from a beloved aunt who left her two cats and a collection of 240 hats.
Powers runs her own bookkeeping business. She is treasurer of the Citrus Heights Chamber of Commerce and treasurer and president-elect of the Rotary Club of Citrus Heights. She also runs a business — Susie’s Craft Shack — out of her home.
In 2022, she left a firm where she had spent approximately 12 years, and struck out on her own to start her own business, Powers Bookkeeping Service. Today it has five employees, including herself, and serves a range of mostly local businesses: Nonprofits, a brewery, dental offices, estheticians, printing shops and landscapers.
“The thing I really like is when somebody comes to me and they say, ‘I need help,’ and their shoulders are super tense. And then after talking with me, they’ve relaxed,” Powers said. “That I can take some of that stress off their plate — because running a business is hard enough.”
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She was inspired to run for council after completing a nine-month leadership course, where she learned about the city’s operations. If elected, Powers said her priorities would include bringing in new businesses and fighting proposals that would raise taxes.
She also said she also had a sense that residents wanted more communication from their local government, and felt she could provide it.
“I don’t even think people realize that you can go to city council and you can have your voice heard. Sign in. You can have four minutes of time,” she said.
As an example, she cited public anger at recent budget changes to the police department.
This summer, four officers from the traffic unit were moved into vacant positions in regular patrol and investigative units, and their former positions in traffic were eliminated. Three non-sworn managers were laid off. The budget estimates two positions — a sergeant and a lieutenant — will be lost through attrition.
Though the changes represent a reduction of seven positions — three employees and four vacant positions — plus two expected through attrition, the overall budget for the department increased by $1.11 million.
Some members of the public have been upset, Powers said, interpreting the changes as a dramatic cut, when many of the changes amounted to a department reorganization.
“There are a lot of people that are upset with the directions of things, or they’re feeling that they’re not heard,” Powers said. “I want to be able to listen to what people are concerned about, research it, and then make decisions based on what everybody wants. Knowing that I can’t always make everybody happy, but at least I want them to know I tried.”
A lifelong resident of the Sacramento region, Powers said she feels connected to Citrus Heights. Several of her family members live nearby.
“It’s like a small town, with about 87,000 people living here,” she said. “I’ve built my own little village, my team… I feel very connected here.”
Who is funding the race?
Karpinski-Costa did not have any contributions listed on the city’s campaign finance page. She said her campaign is self-funded. Powers reported one individual contribution of $1,000.
Who else is supporting the candidates?
The Sacramento County Republican Party made a dual endorsement for both Karpinski-Costa and Powers.
Powers is also endorsed by former Citrus Heights Councilmember Albert Fox, per her campaign website. Karpinski-Costa said she is also endorsed by the Sacramento-Sierra’s Building and Construction Trades Council and Laborers Local 185.
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