League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Santa Clara County, CA November 4, 2014 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Mayor; City of Milpitas

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, Balancing interests Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. What experience related to city government would you bring to the City Council? Answer from Robert Marini: I have been a project manager and know how to schedule and execute the plan to get things done within the time frame. I attended four years of city council meeting and other commissions meetings, without pay so I know the issues of the city of Milpitas and where the public money is spent. I understand the city responsibility to the public to provide services and pay salaries at a competitive rate. I learned to live within a budget. I have researched laws related to the city responsibility to the public on utility fees and the rights of the public to know the cost for services and how they calculate your fees. I have done spread sheets analysis to determine if the charges to the public are correct. You can have people with years of city experience but it they will not uphold the laws of the state then their experience does not help the public, state laws are in place to protect the public from the people in power. Answer from Jose S. "Joe" Esteves: With almost 14 years of experience, almost 10 as Mayor, on the Milpitas City Council, I have worked through many of the challenges of economic plenty and economic difficulties. I have made the difficult decisions necessary to balance requirements and resources and I have consistently fought for responsible fiscal policies in the Council and in the City. I have always emphasized public safety and quality of life for all residents. I also focused on business development and retention, environmental preservation and protection, support for quality education and schools. There are few simple solutions and it takes study, analysis, and understanding to make the best decisions. My educational background (Engineering, MBA, computer training, others) and many years of services and interaction with various communities enable me to develop effective policies and decisions which benefit residents and businesses. 2. What concerns are of particular importance to the city and how would you address them? Answer from Robert Marini: We under a major state drought but the city are always increasing the number of housing units. This is hypocrisy on the part of the city and council members. The city has planned 6,000 more housing units. That a 30% increase in housing. The additional amount water for 6,000 new parcels is 328.5 million gallons a year. I am assuming only 3 people per household, 50 gallons a day for 365 days. The city's goal should be to reduce consumption not increase it. I would stop any more development. The water fee is increases at 14% every year. At 14% your water fee will double every 5.5 years. The city buy water from two sources the are increasing their fees only 8%. It the city responsibility for the safety of the public and not put the burden of the city problems, such as water, on the public by increasing unsustainable development and traffic. The city's revenue is $6 million on 6000 new housing taxes, but the residents gets increased fees due to increased demand for water. The city is spending money on frivolous projects. The city spent $175,000 just for a statue. The city gave a grant of $1.5 million dollars to SunPower to hire 80 minimum salaried assembly workers. One consultant is paid $175,000 to get input from the public on how to make Milpitas a better place to live. The city could get the answers from the public for free with all the commissions that the city has to get information from the public. The city refused to disclose who was at the Mayor's party at city hall which caused a loss of $80,000 because of not upholding the California public records act, when a council member filed a suit asking for this information. Another problem is the lack of transparency in disclosing information on utility fees. The public does not know what the cost of each service is and how the fees are calculated. The public does not know if the city is overcharging. I presented to the city council that the city overcharged residents by $291,000 and the city just ignored it. The sewage fees for residential parcels are not proportional. This is another violation of state law. Business and other parcels are proportional. Your water fee is an example of a propotional fee. Single family parcels are paying 76% of the total sewage charge even though there only 66% of the total parcels. This is way to much. Milpitas has the highest sewage fee then any other city in Santa Clara county. Obeying state laws seem to be a major problem with the city of Milpitas. The example are stated above. Look at the video on youtube.com "Milpitas sewage rate calculations" and you see to what extremes the city goes through to find ways to overcharge the residents. The last problem is that council members are taking campaign contributions from special interest even when the council members are voting on approving their projects. I would set a rule not allow voting if they except contrutions on issues that are before the council. The quality of life in Milpitas is decreasing every year because of increased fees and traffic. The council members need to respect the residents by not treat them as an ATM machine that increases fees without disclosing the data needed to justify the fee increase. Answer from Jose S. "Joe" Esteves: We must ensure the financial strength and stability of the City and we must make the choices that balance requirements with resources. We must maintain responsive and quality Police and Fire Departments while staying within budgetary constraints and using innovative solutions. We must ensure ethical and open government that instills the residents' confidence in their City's elected officials and staff. We must fight to eliminate the odors from the Newby Island facility and look into the possibility of closing the site. We must develop solutions to ensure Milpitas has reliable sources of water for all residents and businesses. We must continue to have great partnership with the School District to promote quality education with adequate resources. The City should do its share in environmental protection and preservation. Economic development should be continually enhanced through programmed business development and retention; city should be able to compete globally. Use of technology for city operations and services should help streamline many city functions. 3. How would you balance the needs of the City as a whole with groups' interests? Answer from Jose S. "Joe" Esteves: This is always the challenge in Council decision making as rarely do simple decisions come to the Council. As Mayor, I am very active in meeting with residents at every opportunity, not just during election years. I listen, I discuss, I present. I find that when residents understand the issue, the challenge, the context, they are smarter and can support decisions both for the City as a whole and for specific interests. I make every effort to represent the people of Milpitas in balancing the needs of the community with specific interests. It helps greatly that I am not tied to any special interest groups; I do however encourage business and development in our City. Being a community person, a hands-on in serving the people, and accessible to residents and businesses help me understand people and city issues and make good decisions appropriate for the situation and providing maximum benefit and minimum negative impact to the city as a whole. Answer from Robert Marini: There must be rules set in place that prevents special interest from giving campaign contributions to council members when their issues are brought before the council for a vote. If council members accept a campaign contribution then they should not vote. This is a conflict of interest. I would limit the time council members are in office to 8 years from 12 years. Reducing their time in office would reduce their influence with special interests. Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. The answer to each question should be limited to 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.