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The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.
See below for questions on
Experience,
Concerns,
Balance
Click on a name for candidate information. See also more information about this contest.
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1. What experience related to city government would you bring to the city council?
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Answer from Patricia "Patty" Mahan:
I have served the City of Santa Clara as councilmember and as Mayor. With 16 years of experience, I bring a wealth of knowledge about the city and the ability to get things done. I am willing to work hard on the difficult issues that face Santa Clara - to improve the economic environment for our businesses, to protect our general fund, to implement plans to bring new jobs and revenues to our city.
Answer from Teresa O'Neill:
I was an elected member of the Santa Clara Unified School District Board of Education, where we had to manage a budget comparable to the City of Santa Clara's General Fund, set strategy for SCUSD, and hire and evaluate the performance of the Superintendent. During my tenure on the SCUSD School Board, we had to make very difficult decisions on staffing and benefits in order to balance our budget. I also have been on Santa Clara's Planning Commission for 3 years and the General Plan Steering Committee, where I have gained much knowledge about land use principles and practices as they apply to Santa Clara.
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2. What concerns are of particular importance to the city and how would you address them?
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Answer from Patricia "Patty" Mahan:
My biggest concern is the current state of our budget. Following the economic downturn of 2001, our city faced a $25million deficit. We had to use our reserves to balance our budget in the 3 years following, but with financial restraint and sound fiscal planning, we not only balanced our budget in 3 years, we gained budget surpluses over the next 3 years - and saved all of those surplus funds. We rebuilt our reserves, and then the current recession -some even call it a depression - hit in 2008 and we again faced deficits. This time the deficit is far smaller, however, only $5million. What we did before, we can do again, to balance our budget and rebuild our reserves. But it will take experience and leadership to exercise the fiscal restraint and to plan for our future. I offer the city this leadership and experience, and will make this my first and foremost priority in the next 4 years.
Answer from Teresa O'Neill:
The number one concern for Santa Clara is our fiscal emergency, where the City Council approved several employee salary and pension increases when revenues have been decreasing. Instead of only benchmarking salaries and benefits against other cities, Santa Clara needs to evaluate benchmarking against a combination of private industry, non-profit organizations, as well as governmental entities. As a member of the City Council, I will evaluate closely revenues and expenditures to determine a path to returning to budgets balanced without the use of general fund reserves (which are completely depleted at this time). If I am elected to the Santa Clara City Council, I will advocate for resizing expenditures to allow for reserve funds to be replenished for future possible emergencies. Santa Clara also needs to improve residents' access to their government by increasing information available via the internet, improving use of social media to reach out to residents on many issues and allow them to provide responses. I also will call for more open meetings by the City Council.
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3. How would you balance the needs of the city as a whole with groups' interests?
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Answer from Patricia "Patty" Mahan:
Santa Clara is a cohesive, welcoming and stable community. We all work hard together to make this city such a great success. It is obvious by the achievements of this city that we all work together as a whole in everyone's best interests. It is what has made us the #1 Green City in the nation. It's why we have the third best library in the country and the #1 convention center in Silicon Valley (among the top 14 in America!). Santa Clara has been recognized Silicon Valley's Most Prepared City by the American Red Cross and as the Best All-Round Streets City by the Metropolitan Transportation Agency. We have received the League of California City's Award of Excellence for our Ethics Program. Golf Digest Magazine voted our municipal golf course as one of the country's best, and the Kosmont Rose Institute rates Santa Clara as a low-cost city to do business. This kind of success only comes when Santa Clarans work together and put Santa Clara first!
Answer from Teresa O'Neill:
The first requirement to being able to effect this balance is to work towards eliminating as much of the division between groups as possible. Through engaged and effective leadership, we can acknowledge the many things and interests we have in common and understand that even with differences, we may share common goals that will allow us to work towards a consensus. As Councilmember, I will consider how individual decisions impact separate groups in a way that is in keeping with the strategies and goals for the near and longer-term future. If an interest of a special group is not at all in keeping with achieving the goals of the City, then very compelling reason must be presented for why the special group's needs should be addressed over the plans of the entire community. I would my understanding of people and analytical abilities to determine if there is a way to meet the needs of the special group that will not go against the requirments of the majority.
Responses to questions asked of each candidate
are reproduced as submitted to the League.
Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League. Answers must not refer directly or indirectly to another candidate.
The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.
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League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
