Candidate for
Council Member; City of Healdsburg

1) Budget-Matching revenues with expenditures: For the last several years the council has been working on the problems of escalating costs in pension, health costs and supplying public services to the community. I have worked hard with employees and staff to reduce pension and heath costs. We have been successful in obtaining agreement from all employees and unions for a second level retirement system for new hires. All city employees are now paying their employee share ofthe retirement cost. All city employees, including administration are paying 10% of their medical premium. In the last two plus years we have reduced our work force by approximately 25 FTE's. No COLA's have been agreed to in the last 4 years with the exception of contractual obligations. I have worked on ways to cut costs in the way we do business. Streamlining the permit process at the building department, out sourcing jobs that can be done more efficiently in planning, fmance and public works. Although we have tried we cannot cut our way out of our structural budget short fall. I am looking at ways to improve our revenue stream. We have had to raise utility rates and are placing a ballot measure for a half-cent sales tax on the November ballot. I am always looking for ways to do more with less. I have realized that we have to become more dependent on our community as the state takes more and more revenues that were historically returned to the cities and counties.

2) Attracting and maintaining business and jobs and affordable home for future generations. I am continually working on ways to attract sustainable business and jobs to our community. Working with Planning, Public Works, Finance and Realtors to fmd ways to make Healdsburg more affordable and friendlier to work in. I have been working closely with developer and staffto fmd ways to build market rate homes in Healdsburg. We did have success recently with a twenty eight-unit project on the north end of town. This project received council approval and it appears that it will be built next spring. These homes are projected to be moderately price. The project will have four low-income homes included.

3) Ageing Infrastructure. Healdsburg is approaching one hundred and fifty five years of age. With that comes aging sewer lines, water lines, electric lines and roads. There is little money for capital improvement and our road funds are almost non-existent. Each enterprise in the city has reserves for infrastructure improvements, however they are not fully funded. Working on ways to fund these will be a priority. Also I will be looking for better ways to repair and replace infrastructure failures. Do things like lining pipes and under grounding of electric utilities.

Healdsburg unlike most of the communities in Sonoma County owns and operates all of its cities utilities. In 2009 we dedicated our new state of the art sewer treatment plant, which produces tertiary treated water suitable for reuse. We are in negations with farmers for agriculture uses and with the City of Santa Rosa for use at the Geysers. We also own and operate our own water service with some of the oldest water rights in the County. In the last five years we have upgraded the quality of our water by adding a new filtration system. We do have some of the highest sewer and water rates in the county. Rates do not only cover the upgrades but also help maintain our ageing infrastructure.

I have worked very had to balance the needs of the community with the needs of the business and tourist community that we depend on so much. We have worked to become a world-renowned destination, but have managed to keep the small town friendliness. I have worked hard to address the cities budget problems and have had to make hard decisions when it comes to layoff, budget cuts and benefits for our employees. We have had to balance our core services with affordability.

Healdsburg had a very vibrant Redevelopment Agency and the loss of it has created a large gap in several areas: Affordable housing, blighted area renewal and infrastructure. Several properties have been purchased by the Redevelopment Agency and were scheduled for renewal and affordable housing. A large 14-acre affordable housing project has been on the redevelopment books for some time and its future is in jeopardy. As Chairman of the Successor Agency and the Oversight Committee I am working with the committees, staff and the Department of Finance in Sacramento to maintain as much of our Redevelopment Agency Bond funds and property as possible. If successful we will be able to continue with some of the projects we had planned for.