Answers to MH Chamber of Commerce questions

By Marby Lee

These are answers to all of the questions posed by the Chamber at their forum on Oct. 12th, 2006

What are your thoughts about the State Infrastructure Bond Initiatives and how they affect Morgan Hill? I am for Prop 1A as it is very important to keep gas taxes going towards our roads. I am also in favor of Props 1B and 1E. I am against Prop 1C as I don't think we should go into debt for, nor do I think this is the proper way to achieve more housing in the state. I am neutral on Prop 1D - Morgan Hill just finished building an new high school, upgrading Live Oak HS and building a new elementary school with a bond several years ago.

Why should, or shouldn't, the Redevelopment Agency be extended? I am of two minds on this topic. I think if the RDA is used to encourage and attract business by providing grants to pay for EIRs, impacts fees, façade improvements, etc... I think it is a very worthwhile endeavor and should be continued. If it is to be used, as the Redevelopment Agency/Council has in the past to build projects that we can't afford to maintain, then we should let it expire.

There is also the concern regarding the mandated 20% that goes to affordable housing. In speaking with residents there is a perception that there is a crime problem associated with affordable housing. According to the police chief there has not been a study or statistics to substantiate or refute that perception. I think before we move ahead with any further affordable housing, we should look into this and determine whether or not a problem exists.

Do you support Measure F? Why or why not, as it relates to your opinion about mixed use retail and residential use in Downtown Morgan Hill? I agree with the concept of mixed use retail and residential in Downtown Morgan Hill, but I have two concerns + One, I would rather the 100 units be part of the of 250 annual limit, rather than in addition to the 250, and Two, where are we going to potentially put 100 units every year?

Is the City correctly, or incorrectly, implementing its long-term plan to reach a balanced budget? Not in my view.

The City Council has been spending the city's money on "nice-to-haves" and, per the Community Conversations and previous council meetings, proposing taxes increases for basic services. That is fundamentally the wrong set of priorities.

I'd like to try a "bottom up" or "zero-based" approach to evaluate the city budget for areas where we could find additional savings, or at a minimum identify the true costs of operating the City. In particular, I'll look closely at consultants' fees to see if there are ways that those moneys could be better spent.

I would continue to look at our budget to see what other areas may not have been considered in previous reviews of the budget. My gut feeling is that there is a substantial portion of the budget that is spent on consultants that could be better spent directly to the benefit of residents of Morgan Hill.

The responsibility of government first and foremost is public safety and infrastructure. When you spend RDA money to build recreation facilities that must be maintained with General Fund money, and not increase the street staffing of the Police Dept as our population grows, you are essentially putting recreation before public safety, and this is not wise stewardship of the public's tax dollars.

What is your position on the use of eminent domain, specifically when it would be used to replace one private enterprise with another or used as an absolute last resort? I am against eminent domain. It takes away property rights, and makes subjective the decision of what is an appropriate use of eminent domain.

If you could sponsor and pass one ordinance or policy change during your time in office, what would it be and explain its significance? At this point, I'm not sure if we need more policies. I feel that less government is better government, but am open to new possibilities if and when the need arises.

What is your position on the use of parcel or transfer taxes to fund city services or other public entities? Before we start to add taxes of any kind, we should focus our General Fund dollars on the main functions of government, namely, public safety and infrastructure (I'm starting to sound like a broken record!) We shouldn't continue to subsidize recreation functions that don't pay for themselves at the cost of increasing public safety, namely police, to acceptable safety levels.

What differentiates you from your competitor(s)? I am a woman...As a political outsider I will bring a fresh perspective to city government.

The percholorate contamination of the City's Tennant well, and other wells, has been very expensive for Morgan Hill ratepayers. Is the City being aggressive enough in its attempts to re-coup our losses? Would you recommend a different course of action? I think that the city has taken a very prudent approach in regards to the perchlorate contamination. They have been very cautious when city wells have tested at the 4ppb level, taking the wells offline in their concern for the health of our residents. The city has continued to try to work with Olin to get this solved, and also make sure Olin takes responsibility for all of the plume from the Tennant Ave site, both the south-eastern and northern contamination. Unfortunately, I think that when dealing with different agencies in the state and county, it takes longer than anyone would like it to. I don't think I would do anything differently than the city has.

Should the Sports Complex be completed per its proposed build out plans? If so, why, and where would you find the funds to pay for it? Or why not? Currently, several facilities built with RDA funds are being subsidized with general funds money. This takes money away from the main responsibility of government, which is the public safety of its residents and the infrastructure of the city. In essence, you are putting recreation before public safety and infrastructure, and this is not a wise stewardship of the public's money. I think until we have a plan for the facilities to pay for itself, we should not move forward. Right now, we have areas in parks, such as baseball diamonds that are not being maintained due to our budget issues. Why should build identical facilties when we can't maintain what we already have?

Also, there are not complete build out costs for the new Sports Complex. I don't understand have we can move forward without knowing what it is going to cost the city, and until we determine that, it should be put on hold.

Should the City do more to attract more businesses to Morgan Hill? If so, what types? If not, why not? I think that the city should definitely work to attract more businesses to town. In my mind, the perfect use of RDA money is to use it to offset impact fees, EIR costs and façade improvements to attract new business to town.

I would look for more businesses that complement what we already have here. My thoughts are more restaurants that would be able to accommodate a larger crowd than what is already available in town, but also some retail businesses that have an established name and clientele that would attract people and induce them to shop more, thereby raising the sales tax dollars coming into town.

Should the City invest in either land and/or building(s), which could be used to bring either biotech or nanotech businesses into Morgan Hill? If so, why? If not, why not? No, it is not the function of a city government to speculate in the real estate market. It also raises the question of why the city is singling out these two industries for consideration.

Should the City lower its impact fees? If so, why? If not, why not? Set the impact fees to cover your costs, but then offset these fees with RDA funds. This is what I consider one of the best uses of RDA funds. Grants to attract new business are a better use of RDA funds than building capital projects that drain the General Fund for maintenance and operations.

Should changes be made in either policies or regulations, or both, using the Economic Development Inhibitors as guidelines that have been developed by City Staff and the Chamber? If so, why? If not, why not? Please identify one or two specific Economic Development Inhibitors as examples in your answer. Absolutely + the two that I would identify are the impact fees and the EIR costs.

Again, I think these two areas are the perfect use of RDA money to help attract new businesses to town. Let's use some of that RDA to give grants to offset the cost of impact fees. Also, use the money to complete an EIR for the whole downtown area. This would serve to save time and money for all new businesses coming to the downtown.

Did you participate in any of the Community Conversations? Would you be in favor of continuing such a communication process into the future? If so, why? If not, why not? Yes, I did participate. Based on the number of residents who participated and the cost for the consultants, I don't think we got the most bang for our buck. Also, the range of options presented for consideration was too constrained, and presupposed the outcome + like a "push poll". Overall, the cost was too high for the benefit obtained.