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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,
Important Concerns,
Balancing Interests
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 Deepka Lalwani:
With 21 years of community service in Milpitas, former Milpitas Planning Commissioner, appointed to the Milpitas Citizens Budget Task Force, and Milpitas Citizen of the Year, past President of the Milpitas Chamber of Commerce, founder of Business & Professional Women organization, an MBA, and private business experience, I am uniquely qualified to represent ALL the people of Milpitas.
Answer from Mark S. Tiernan:
I served on the Milpitas Planning Commission from 2009 through 2011, including one term as Chair. I currently serve as President of the Milpitas Rotary Club. I have been active in local organizations such as the Milpitas Food Pantry, the Family Giving Tree, and Milpitas Little League.
Answer from Carmen Montano:
My experience as a proven leader includes being elected twice as a school board trustee for the Milpitas Unified School District. This position entailed approving budgets, employee negotiations and prioritizing student achievement by approving programs that helped close the achievement gap. Also Community Service as a Planning Commissioner, Parks & Recreation Commissioner and a Library Commissioner. I currently serve as a First 5 Commissioner for the county of Santa Clara and there I also analyze and approve budgets.
Answer from Rajeev Madnawat:
I have been a city commissioner since 2007 and have also been involved with various other bodies and pro-bono organizations. I have intimate knowledge government functioning, land use, zoning, environment protection and general public safety. I am a good listener and deeply care about my city and my fellow residents. I have skills to analyze facts and made fair and reasonable decisions supported by facts and logic. I think out of the box and try to find mutually agreeable solutions by bringing stakeholders together.
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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 Deepka Lalwani:
While we work toward financial stability and growth in our city we must not forget the basic services a city provides like Police protection. While I agree we must aggressively control costs I strongly opposed the idea of outsourcing our Police department. Public safety is a high priority for me.
Answer from Carmen Montano:
Due to the state budget crisis and the dissolution of the Redevelopment Agency, it has created challenges of balancing the city budget. The effects have created decreased revenues to maintain core services to our residents. Analyzing the city budget and finding where there is waste and prioritizing what services are vital. Negotiating with city employee groups is important as well. Attracting new businesses to Milpitas and investing in smart growth near mass transit will bring in new revenues.
Answer from Mark S. Tiernan:
We need to have focus on Public Safety, Economic Development, and supporting our Milpitas Unified School District.
Recently I was one of the leaders to persuade our City Council not to move forward with a process that could have resulted in outsourcing our law enforement services. We have a great Milpitas Police Department with tremendous response times. Some on the City Council advocated outsourcing as a way to save money and our community strongly disagreed.
We need to be more agressive in recruiting small and medium size companies to come to Milpitas to promote Economic Development. As Chair of the Planning commission I lead the effort to streamline our Conditional Use Permit Process, making it faster, cheaper, and more transparent for local companies to expand and new companies to locate in Milpitas.
We need a new grammar school and a new high school in Milpitas to make sure our children have the same educational opportunities that we had growing up. If elected I will work closely with our school district to provide city support in obtaining the land necessary to get these schools built.
Answer from Rajeev Madnawat:
The most urgent issue that our city is faced with is looming budget deficit. I will work work with with all stake holders to come up to a solution to balance the budget without a need for service cuts, layoffs and/or outsourcing. I will focus on long term financial stability by linking city expenditure to the revenue stream so that there are no budget deficits, service cuts and layoffs. A formula to calculate salaries and pensions yearly based on city revenues is the only long term sustainable solution. Economy will turn around, may be in a year, may be in 3 years, may be in 5.... When that happens and say revenue goes up 10%, by all means give hefty pay raises that year. This is a fair and equatable solution. To certain extent, everybody will need to sacrifice to stay float until economy improves. I will partner with the school district to ensure quality education for the kids. I will setup an effective electronic communication channel to enable citizens to voice their concerns prior to important decisions at the city hall.
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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 Deepka Lalwani:
Bringing stakeholders together early in the process is key to better serving everyone in the city. When important decisions are being made for all citizens, we must take the time to reach out to others who are not usually part of the process. Collaboration should be done in more open and less confrontational manner than I see happen.
Answer from Carmen Montano:
In order to balance the needs of the city there needs to be prioritization. There needs to be evidence based analysis of the effectiveness of services to the community. City council and staff need to do work together as a team to study and evaluate their effectiveness to the needs of the community. Looking at all City departments and groups need to be examined to ensure that we maximize for total efficiency and effectiveness of city services to the community.
Answer from Mark S. Tiernan:
My first question will always be what is in the best interests of the people of Milpitas. My supporters know that I will not be beholden to any groups, that I will put the people first.
Answer from Rajeev Madnawat:
I believe that we all are in a same boat. We will either swim or sink together. Groups' interests would not be served if the city has to layoff employees. Similarly, residents interests would not be served if services are cut as a result of layoffs. I believe that every issue can be solved by opening a good faith dialog. All stakeholders understand that we are in a big financial crisis and I believe that I can bring all of them together to find a mutually agreeable solution.
Responses to questions asked of each candidate
are reproduced as submitted to the League.
Candidates' statements are presented as
submitted. Please answer each question in no more than 400 words.
Direct references to opponents are not permitted.
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
