 I'm gonna go ahead and begin with some housekeeping that's on my to-do list here The first thing I'd like to do is to go and introduce you to a pastor Robin who is providing us the facilities for this form this evening Thank you. My name is Reverend Robin Matthews Johnson. You can call me pastor Robin And we're delighted to be able to host this forum here today We take our community work in the community very seriously here in Watsonville in our county And we're just happy that you're here, and I'd say give yourselves a round of applause Good job There are restrooms at the back of the hall men's women's wheelchair accessible if you have any building type questions I'll be at the back during the whole program, and you feel free to ask me, but thank you very much for coming Thank you again, I do have Betty Boveda that's in the back of the room as well She has some index cards in case anybody has an interest with time permitted For anything following the form here if we do have the time for the candidates on that part of it Otherwise we do have it moderated with the content prepared That should be pretty close to be a lot of time that we're giving so far this evening The next thing I would like to do is can we make sure that we have the cell phones on silent so that we don't disturb anybody in Their presentation this evening Thank you, and let's see here Jeremy I'd like to go ahead and have you raise your hand a little bit what we've got is community television And he will be working on preparing this on an edit in the next couple days I believe YouTube it'll be on the same station that our city council meetings are here channel 70 I believe and so look forward to that or anybody that you know that wasn't able to attend You can encourage them to take a look at the community station for this to be aired out in the future here Thank you, and absentee ballots again May 5th So this is a good time for you to be here to sort of listen to what the candidates have to say Prior to getting that ballot in the mail for about 68% of our voters And at this point what I'm going to do is let the candidates do their introductions And I will start with those that have come first and work our way down And they've got about three minutes, and here's the question for the introduction and I'd like them to include Please tell us about your top three to five goals priorities and expectations That you are to work on or have accomplished as a county board of supervisor for our district board Mr. Dutra, you arrived first, so we'll have to begin Hi everybody, my name is Jimmy Dutra I want to say thank you for first of all attending I know that you're taking time out of your busy day to be here, and I appreciate that I also want to thank my family and friends who have come for support as well. I appreciate all of you as well So thank you For those of you who don't know me. My name is Jimmy Dutra. I was born and raised here in South County I'm almost 40 years old and my family's been here since the 1930s So there's quite some history with us and our roots are deep here in this community. I attended local schools. I graduated from Watsonville High School Went on to Santa Clara University where I earned my bachelors in political science and then went on and worked on three national campaigns I was also privileged at that time to be an intern for President Clinton and Later worked for the governor and then ended before going into becoming into business Working for Geraldine Ferraro who is most of you know our first female on a major ticket I'm she ran for vice. She was on as vice president I'm running on change. I'm the only candidate who has not been molding this community For decades. I came home about four years ago and I saw a community that was in disrepair You just all you have to do is just drive down the street to know that we're not getting the resources down here We deserve You go down Green Valley Road, which is one of my top three priorities that Miss Coffman would like us to talk about Green Valley Road needs to be repaired It's it's alongside of a county park that we should be proud of and we shouldn't have to be driving along a Hothold straight There are places that lack sidewalks like Lakeview Middle School where kids have been Walking home from school without even sidewalks being provided This is this happened in no other place in this county and like I tell people you get out tossed You go north you see where the money is being spent the money is not coming back here And that is something that I am going to be fighting for every single day in Santa Cruz We need to get the resources down here that we deserve We have not had resources down here in many years And all you got to do is look around and see how they were failing into infrastructure We have failing roads We have places where kids don't even have sidewalks to walk on and You will see that this is something that needs to be addressed And we need to send somebody with a fire in their belly to get it done It has not been done over the past four years. We have not had any resources get down here I will go I will fight to get roads fixed to have our Students be able to walk on sidewalks. I also talked about Working with the city and bringing in some more family-friendly businesses I think that when Gabriel Lane's was shut down, we lost artery to this community This was a place that I went to as a child that is now gone And now we have to leave our community to spend our dollars in other places such as Aptos and Gilroy and Salinas My time is right now. You will hear more from me and I'll continue to talk to you about the changes that I believe in. Thank you In my process of moderation, I should probably tell you that I am hosting this and my name is Trina Cochman Gomez I am from the community here So I'll tell you that and then I will also just make sure that our candidates are aware that we were giving Three minutes up front. You'll have three minutes per question That's being addressed of you won't start until the question has been completed and Mr. Sales, I believe you the second one to arrive. So I'm going to go ahead and give you your next three minutes for your introduction Good evening everyone and thank you so much for putting this on It's a pleasure. This is the first time that all four of us have met together And it's a pleasure to be here in the middle of Watsonville I was born in Watsonville number eight or ten kids grew up a four and a half acre farmer Very small farm out on Lakeview Road and actually grew up working in the fields because it was such a small farm We actually worked for our neighbors because they actually paid us Work there with my brothers and sisters and my mom My first job out of the fields was actually at the Fox theater downtown when I was about 16 years old a little bit about my family background My dad emigrated from the Philippines as a teenager Was a barber his entire career and also served in the US Navy my mother was the daughter of migrant workers and traveled all over the country settling in Watsonville and I've worked in the canneries for quite a while and actually worked for 30 years or nearly 30 years as a school bus driver for the school district Next month. She will celebrate her 88th birthday. I've been a small business owner Own penguin printing which is downtown Watsonville on that for 10 years and was very successful and sold it but then I went into real estate because I wanted to spend more time with my kids and I actually got a chance to work in their classrooms and be a part of coaching Little League and doing things like that and I Think well by background I've been a local realtor as I mentioned for 27 years. I Was a member of the Watsonville planning Commission for a short period then was elected to the Pajaro Valley School Board and I've been I now represent the Pajaro Valley at the county level on the County Board of Education I've held that position for quite a while. I've got two kids Reagan is a graduate of NYU in lives in San Francisco and about three weeks after the dual election She's getting married. So it's a busy time for us. My son is on the waiting list He did all the correct was at work at Cabrillo. He's on the waiting list for the nursing program at Cabrillo College and As I mentioned, I've been an experienced elected official My big thing is protecting the farmland around in the Pajaro Valley trying to keep the urban limit line that is in place Honored and quit from being able to push out into that You know Watsonville's core and Watsonville's history and I believe Watsonville's soul is in agriculture I want to preserve that. The other thing is you've been looking at awful funding coming from the state I know that because I'm a school board trustee and the city knows it because their employees are still being furloughed on Fridays Money is beginning to come in. I don't want to make sure that we're very conservative in planning how to spend that money Looking at things that are very effective and not looking at just because money is coming in that we need to spend it So that's a big priority for me And also services as we mentioned to the Pajaro Valley I think there's so much that needs to be done here in the Pajaro Valley and we don't really have We don't have the ability to really argue with the other supervisors and make sure things get done And I think I have that ability. I'd like to be doing it for you. Thank you And thank you, and I have our comment Mr. Great Capit for our last few minutes of this introduction Oh, I'm sorry. I think Terry's someone else Yes, Mr. Medina, would you please share with us? Thank you, and thank you, Trina and the committee for bringing us here tonight. I'm honored to be here. I Am a fourth generation Santa Cruz County resident. I've lived and worked in our community for 30 years I'm married to my beautiful wife, Werner who's here tonight, and we raised our son here, Alvin. I Have over 43 years of increasing responsibility and success in law enforcement covering five Jurisdictions of government 27 of those years right here in our community I have worked with four city managers hired by John Radden over 50 council members 25 to 30 neighborhood groups and all with different points of view and political perspectives I remain the longest ten-year police chief in Watsonville history. I Was a paid student police officer at Cabrillo College and graduated from the police science program I'm a graduate of the hundred and twenty second session of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia I'm a six-year veteran of the United States Army Reserve military police and like many of you in this room I have a history of community service outside my employment profession. I started working with nonprofits in 1973 and engaged In that endeavor by my mentor Ray Belgard here in the Pajaro Valley Why I was on the founding board of directors of the Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance Which spawned new school? I was on the mental health advisory board of Santa Cruz County today I continue on the Watsonville Community Hospital Board of Trustees as its chair. I'm the treasurer of the independent square Housing for disabled people I'm a member of the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, which matched philanthropic donors and investments with community needs We disperse over six million dollars mostly to the Pajaro Valley In 2001 I was honored and voted man of the year by the PV board of chambers and agriculture My third asset to you is that I am a private business man I co-founded Incorporated Belcher, Elie, Medina and Associates a safety solution company for government and private business. I Have About five things in my platform. Hopefully we can discuss it tonight But overarching everything that I'm going to talk about tonight is the fact that Pajaro Valley District for many of our groups We just don't play well in the sandbox. We are not taken serious by anybody so my first job one is to try to bring Farmers the council the county the pilots together on a common ground and start to move forward on some of the issues We're going to talk about tonight Thank you My name is Greg Caput. I was born and raised in Watsonville went to many white school EA Hall junior high Watsonville High School Cabrillo College Santa Clara University I'm the most proud of getting my degree from many white elementary Then I went on to law school and graduated from Western State University down in forks in California I worked in the fields during the summers in high school and that's just some of my background but Part of the question was Comments on what our priorities are going to be one is what are the commitments? I made and what are the commitments? I'm going to continue to make and We have got funding Great deal of tax money came to South County. I don't think $300,000 to fix the end of Green Valley Road at Wheelock and Hazeldale Road There was a major project that took 60 different permits that we had to get because the Army Corps of Engineers had to sign off on it Paulson Road was at $94,000 We got that done all of those who are on the waiting list for the for the last four years I've been in office for three years and you know five months The Potterville River was another project for 18 years that was sitting there and it was a good plan We had the base of Louisville when I got elected, but we got a grand slam I wasn't willing to wait another 18 years and look at a good plan. Just sit there our staff myself And public works in the county worked very hard to get all the permits so that 300,000 cubic yards of sediment was removed from the Potterville River making it much safer in case of a big storm and We were always under the pressure of a big storm and ever since we got it done We've been in the middle of a drought. So anyway, but we are ready and very proud of that As far as funding and Different things I want to make sure that the sheriff's department and Cal fire is fully funded I am endorsed by the California fire county firefighters local and I'm endorsed by the pilots so talk about bringing people together That's just one example When I when I first ran I promised to protect farmland, I worked very hard measured tea. It was a terrible idea to try to propose putting it urban sprawl really Over prime ag land. It was defeated by 70 percent almost identical at every precinct in the city when they counted up the final votes I'll continue to expand Veteran services in South County I'm a veteran myself eight years in the National Guard and Army US Army Reserve. So that's that's my commitment We're open now two days a week Veteran services in Watsonville compared to one day a week before I got it off us. Thank you Thank you And I'm very sensitive to everyone's time here So I will make sure that we do pick my set by three the three minute mark the way that this will be conducted I have four we have four different topics Each of the topics will have an individual question that will be out of the dress to the candidates and what I'm going to do is Have the candidates choose which one which packet they're going to get I have four of them set aside here and Mr. Dutry you arrived first. So let you pick which one first And Right Okay, so go out of the gate with you and then I have Mr. Sales in a second. I guess so Of course, my pen is out of napkins. This skin is the shirt behind me. So bear with me Thank you The the topics that will be brought up for questioning this evening will be on homelessness They'll be on economy They will be on land use and they'll be on transportation All of these were well researched out For topics based on the professions that have met directly with County Board of Supervisors on different programs and Presentations that were done funding being allocated. So all of these are real relevant to the Position that is being run for here So the first question that I have will go to Mr. Kappen because he's our first player here and It will be based on our homelessness Your three minutes won't begin until I finish the question for you So what I'm going to do is give you some content provide you with the question and then you'll three minutes will begin then, okay? The first question new studies have come back to tell us that our homeless situation has not improved Rather our homelessness has dramatically increased throughout our County We fall short of needing nearly ten million dollars for work efforts to remediate this problem When we now have about 1.9 million in funds being allocated to more than a dozen agencies and projects throughout the county Your question What kind of out-of-the-box approach do you think we can implement to address this issue? Thank you We have a rescue mission here in Washington Two years ago in faced closure the Salvation Army, which did great work for many years decided in San Francisco that they didn't want to continue funding the shelter here in Wasabelle, which does Provide a shelter for about 60 men in the winter and about 30 women There was a critical time when it looked like there wasn't going to be the funding and it was going to close and Here in September. I got together with a group of wonderful people here in Wasabelle and The rescue mission part of a rescue mission team challenge step forward and said we will run the program We have to get up and running. They have to do they have to provide meals. They have to provide bedding showers and facilities separate shelters for both men and women I When I got on there because of a Commitment I made to donate part of my salary a big part of my salary I told them as far as the funding goes I would go with matching funds I would put up $18,000 of my own money out of my paycheck. It's out of it's your money It's your taxpayer money. It was going to raises for the For the board of supervisors that I said I wanted to cut and pay. I think they're overpaid and That includes myself so anyway The shelter of the shelter opened up the funds were matched and And I'm happy to say two years later now. It's still functioning It's still in danger of losing the support salvation army owns the facility owns the property And they've been allowing the rescue mission to run it Without charging and rent and different churches throughout the cargo Valley have been cooking all the meals for the homeless in the area so it is a problem that has to be addressed and We can't just turn our backs on it and pretend that People aren't out there and they're suffering and they're suffering greatly Okay, I represent South County. I made a promise and a commitment that I would represent everybody South County is different than the rest of the county. I tried to I tried to represent Everybody from all ages and also whether or not they're documented or undocumented our offices work very hard to With undocumented people that are here that face Tremendous crisis problems and they could end up being homeless or being actually having to pack up and go back to Mexico We've had many cases like that. So the the whole issue is very personal to me I think I've made a very personal contribution Locally here to lessen the problem Thank you Our next question will go to our candidate mr. Sales Our county statistics for short term and chronic homelessness in our county has increased from 270 2771 homeless people to 3536 in just two years What cash strap budget with cash strap budgets? This has really tapped our financial resources both the city and county levels and it spilled over to public safety compromises and costs Mr. Sales, what would you do to relieve and provide cost containment of this matter? Thank you very much The public biggest issue for me is I see government Role in this as really being coordination When you look at the city of Watsonville the county of Santa Cruz the state of California and even schools because that's something I'm very familiar with identifying the need That's the number one thing is looking at the need or looking at how we can address it One of the things that I can finally do when elected as a supervisor is address mental health It's something that we've done in the school districts and to make sure that we Work with children at the earliest possible age to look at what their problems are and what needs they have and homelessness It's a very big issue in our school communities and it carries over into of course the general population I think the government in when elected has a role of stepping in and trying to coordinate What's going on as you pointed out there is the problem that we have in government Especially the cities and counties is we're looking at the menacing funds But luckily we're looking at a time now where we're actually beginning to look at a light at the end of the tunnel It may be a long time for that train to come down the tracks But there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I think that the coordination that needs to happen between the government agencies With private organizations is key to making this work one of the problems we have and And you know it's a heck of a problem. This is a beautiful place to live and if you're going to be homeless It's a beautiful place to live. You look at what's happening back east and in the northeast and the plain states We attract a lot of people because we're not as harsh as other places But the key to solving this problem. I believe is working With private organizations private individuals what has happened in the past? But the good example is I was very active with the Salvation Army I was actually the treasurer back when they had the earthquake which was kind of exciting But when they ran into the problem losing their funding from the larger organization the fact that Community groups got together said no we're not gonna let this happen. We have a facility We've had people who donated and given so much for this facility that we have to do something And I think that's the goal that government should play is bringing people together and making things happen So the something gets done. We have to take care of the people in greatest need That is always should be the number one priority of anybody regardless of politics or church or You know, whatever position you're in we should always be looking at the people in greatest need no matter what that need is We have all heard the discussion about the concerns around public safety as a result of homeless Encampments being set up in dark corners around our community as well as loitering downtown where we are already limited on shelter resources and capacity The perception in our community is that it's not safe coming down to shop which directly correlates to sales and tax revenue Your question is what resources would you use to ensure our public safety by addressing? The drug use and mental health issues and lack of shelter resources associated with this chronic problem Thank you. I have to agree with Dana. He actually answered the question We have this is also related to mental health when a lot of homeless a lot of homeless people are on the streets Because many have mental health issues and unfortunately here in South County. We have a large number Mental health case issues which are predominantly downtown We have two buildings which a lot of our local services our police and firefighters are called to daily to tend to the needs of people dealing with mental health issues There we have lowered people who loiter people who are walking around downtown around the buildings where they reside And this is the place where the county has been pushing people For many years and I'm sure that many people gone downtown. You've all seen people walking around and There's actually people who work from the county who watch over the buildings The rest of tar has a full-time staff member and this is what we have to work with We have to stop being the sponge for the rest of the county We need to stand up and say this is a county issue and we need to start Distributing the issues that we have when it comes to homeless and mental health You know if you take away the percentage that is with the mental health issue We also a lot of homeless people, you know, we need to create jobs for them We need to put them into programs that are going to give them the skills to get out of being homeless and get them back into the Workforce these are ideas that need to be implemented. We can stand here and we can you know say as much as we want to support programs That will take in a bunch of you know of homes people But we actually need to take it a step further and start putting in programs to allow them to obtain jobs and to get the services needed to help them with the mental health issues that you know What many people have in our community? I Also agreed to I mean we need to also work with there's a number they should love some fishes I work with them Not too recently and they do they sell out So the numbers are real down here if you just go and volunteer some time to your local you know food banks or homeless shelters The same that the numbers are in staggering Instagory numbers and a lot of people are afraid that you know if they go somewhere else, they're not going to get the services So let's send them to sex help County where we know that we already have the places for them to go Which is located downtown and we have the services which we can offer we need to step away and offer opportunities for Thank you Thank you, Mr. Medina The Department of HUD Has identified Santa Cruz County as having the fifth largest homeless population per capita in the nation Cost containment of this problem stems from securing housing and getting case management for this invisible population of our community Your question is how would you go about allocating resources to the challenges these homeless statistics have identified? Well first, let me Make sure everybody understands that Homelessness as it relates to the Pogrow River within the city limits Is not anything that any of us will can vote on or deal with in terms of county government and funding The rescue mission Salvation Army does not get county funding because it's a religious their religious organization So the facilitating and trying to use community help with those organizations is What we would try to do? HUD funds Places like independent Square for people with disabilities And places to live HUD does not fund Programs like the Pogrow Valley women's shelter who as a member of the Board of Supervisors We would be able to direct money to and we have to keep doing that So here's here's the issue really there are two and you need to realize that the homeless Issue mostly impacts the unincorporated area of Santa Cruz County behind Safeway That is the Sheriff's Office jurisdiction. That is the unincorporated area. That's where we have to focus our abilities and resources as members of the Board of Supervisor The two issues are this we have women and families with children that we truly have to get out of cars and into The Pogrow Valley women's shelter for security We have to if they will abide by the rules Into the various other organizations wherever they are in the county That we have jurisdiction Secondly We have to stop figuring out how to Make people stop drinking stop using drugs Because that's what they want to do if you go if you have my experience over these years people Don't want to go to these various places that were described here because they don't want to follow the rules So here's another box thought is we find a place away from the economy look what's happened in Santa Cruz We can learn from that away from the economy Put some porta potties there so they stop using your backyards and mine as toilets and Perhaps even some tent cabins so that at least they are somewhat taken care of and yet out of the way Thank you Our next topic will be about our economy We'll still stay with the same cycle one through four and then at the end there We'll do the closure on the candidate discussion for the following So mr. Captain Your question your comment here is we have several economic development projects Currently slated for the mid-county as part of our short-term economic plan Your question is what do you see your role in participating in Identifying and expanding these projects in the South County area to create economic vitality I will make a quick comment on homelessness before I get into this, but We can keep the whole shelter open at Watsonville, and I'd like to ask the other candidates to Match me dollar-to-dollar it takes a hundred twenty thousand dollars to keep that whole shelter open and That'll help clean up Some of the downtown area small business accounts for 70% of all the Jobs in the South County Watsonville area if you add agriculture the numbers go away much higher But small business drives the economy The the big box stores the the bigger stores only account for about 28 to 30% so we do have to do we do have to protect the The downtown area there's a lot of work that has to be done there. We have an empty Godshawks building. I realize that We we have to get and invite business to come downtown And that that means that you have to have a planning process That doesn't restrict them from actually getting and coming in here because you've bought them down with too many Requirements and too many restrictions and too many permits and too many fees We have to get them to come here, and we have to be a Business-friendly and that's something that of course the city of Watsonville really has to address We have to protect also our agriculture of jobs There are a lot of people working out there. They work very hard. They support their families Almost all of the affordable housing and affordable housing in South County means low-income housing That's for people with combined incomes of $48,000 minimum to be able to get into the housing we've accounted for almost Entirely for the whole county all of the affordable housing for low income The rest of the county is put in what they call affordable housing But the minimum requirement that they have for people working is that they have to have a combined income of over a hundred thousand dollars That doesn't fit in South County. So we have to work with the we've had we've had four different Economic vitality meetings in South County to try to promote a local small business and also try to Invite some of the bigger box stores if you want to call them to go downtown go into the God Shocks You know we have work to do I understand that but we can't we can't start building in the unincorporated area And then kill off downtown and draw all the business away So we have to focus on what's going good 700,000 dollars a year Comes into the county from agriculture and we're trying to do permit processes to make it easier for them to function Thank you Mr.. Sales As a result of the state cutbacks and the dissolution of the redevelopment agency We no longer have economic funding resources We once had and now we must be more creative with fewer funds. Your question is how will you go about? collaborating with and educating our chambers councils Community about resources which can further the economic development to benefit our community I like the way that that question was phrased or stated because talking about educating the chamber I think it's the opposite. I think the government needs to look at the Chamber of Commerce and say what do you need? What do we need to change? How do we need to lessen regulation? How do we need to make the process better so that you're attracted to come to Watsonville if you look on a country? Nationwide level you're looking at a situation where you've got states competing with licensing fees Income or corporate taxes those types of things to invite Businesses to come to their states California is having a hard time. I'm seeing things on TV When New York is doing a 10-year free tax tax rezone and things like that. We need to be looking at Talk to the business people Not tell the business people what they need to do But ask them what the cities and the county and the state needs to do to earn their business To earn their respect and to attract them to our area There's some of the things that are great about Watsonville is that you know It was pointed out that the small business is a big part of it I owned a small business on Main Street at one point my family had a my dad's barbershop was on the 200 block My sister's beauty shop was inside of got shops. My printing company was on the 500 block Since that time the city used redevelopment money to tear down the 200 block put Tens of businesses out of business it sat vacant have that a lot sat vacant for 20 years and So to my idea of the the the city or the county investing in business I really have a hard time with I think we should talk to business and talk to them about how to encourage them God shots, unfortunately, we've all seen what happened to that and again We need to work with the owner of the building and say what would it take from the city to make something happen not tell them what to do The my business on the 500 block unfortunately the building was almost fell down the earthquake But luckily I had sold it by then and gotten to the real estate But my thing is we need to be working with the businesses and the chamber and asking them What it's going to take to make things happen in Watsonville one of the things that has always bothered me and this was happening when I was The downtime business owner. Let's do a study Let's see what people want. You know what they're still doing a study I've been out of downtown and as a realtor for almost 30 years now, and they're still saying what would it take to make people come Downtown I think it's more important to go to businesses and say what would it take to bring you downtown? Let's see. Mr. Dutra. I have The count the county has been working with the Santa Cruz business council and the Santa Cruz area chamber of commerce on a broad range of Economic development work plans to build jobs Enhanced revenue in our tax base Your question is how would you work to ensure South County is fairly represented on this economic development team? It's a really important question to me. I Left after college and as most of my friends did and there weren't jobs to come back to there are no There weren't any sustainable jobs and there still aren't sustainable jobs today Many people you know your families your friends your kids probably your grandkids as well have left the community and not been able to come back This is a big issue and this is one of the reasons why I'm in this race We need to bring this economy back in this community so that our family and friends can come back So that we can start offering jobs for them to work in I Will work closely with Santa Cruz County and make sure that we are not neglected in this issue Many of you have come to your door and I talk daily about what my plans are This is an agricultural community and I don't see why we cannot be the Silicon Valley of ag Many things that we use out in the fields are made in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles And these are engineers that we could be bringing home We could be having them open business here and create what we use here at home There are a lot of empty buildings in this community and we talked about the dot shops building Why can't we do what they did with the Sentinel building in Santa Cruz? They put cruzio in there and other businesses women there and they started started flourishing I've said from day one and I talked to many of you downtown will never Be back to what it is until you get the people down there No rest of restaurants and retail stores are not going to take a risk to open up in a place where people are not going You need to get the bodies down there first. That means you need to create jobs like putting in Technology businesses or places like cruzio downtown when you get the people there Then you will get the best restaurants coming and then you will get the retail stores coming But until people get their bodies down there, you're not there's not going to be any success So we need to start making incentives for these people to come to our community We need to open the doors to our to our kids and our family members to say come home open shop here That we do not need to be leaving our community and not coming home anymore And I work very hard to make sure that we have a voice when it comes to our economy and Thank you It's now your turn Monterey County has an economic development committee which consists of representation from the following expertise Agriculture finance health care education labor tourism and the Board of Supervisors Your question is with Watsonville having one of the highest unemployment rates in the state of California How would you see to it to ensure we develop appropriate policies? programs and committees and activities that will support and develop a diversified economy so I want to ask you to look a little bit at the bigger picture here We are running for the County Board of Supervisors We do not vote on the gotch chocks building. We do not vote on downtown empty stores. We don't have An ore in that water so all of this discussion about what we would do is Is not something that we will ever have come before us So let's try to focus on What it is that we can do as members of the Board of Supervisors? We can offer our assistance through the County Planning Department and through the County budget to find a person like Barbara Mason who is a Lady devoted to economic development within the county and Reach out to the city Reach out to the chamber reach out to the business council of this county and see if we can't put together some funding for our own Help person for economic development to work with the city's economic development person Now they do have my colleagues here do have a point about its people first So to the extent that we can get these folks together the chamber the business council the farm bureau together to Create some Infilt space so you have this whole issue in the Industry area we've got empty buildings all over we have car dealers that believe they will not be viable in 10 or 15 years What are we going to do with that space? How can we develop that and if there is a development plan? How do we share the taxes? Well, let me tell you we're on the board of supervisors We're not going to let it all go to the city of Watsonville. We're going to want to split it The example there is the freedom center The freedom center was in the county of Santa Cruz. It wanted to develop it came into the city They worked on it together the citizens voted and that tax That is generated there is now split 5050 so it was a win-win we can do some of those things that we've done in the past and get ourselves out of this I do believe that bringing people First to downtown will help private business know what to do with the people that are there That's what they do government doesn't do business very well Thank you Can we open a door perhaps a cross breeze and I think I'm melting our candidates here Thank you It's not them than me All right What we've got next on the agenda for the questions Will be on land use And we'll continue the same rotation that we have Mr. Capitol come first. Oh, that helps that helps Are you aware as you are aware? There was a ballot initiative the residents of the city of Watsonville voted on regarding annexing a prime agriculture parcel West of the city This initiative would have incorporated 95 acre 94 acre parcel into the city limits that would have faced not only the county board of supervisors But also that have left go and bag and I think those to push it as our county born of supervisor Your question is Representing the South County. What are your what are some of your land use ideas? You would entertain or consider to improve our economic mentality when that issue came up I wasn't a spectator. I participated fully in Opposing what I considered a terrible plan We're talking about prime ag land in some of the best land in the entire world for growing agricultural products 30 feet or more of a top soil out in that area over the hundreds of years worth The soil is as rich as you can get And then they come up with an idea with that measure T which is part of the question here That there was really no plan on what to do Okay, if we're gonna if we're gonna consider anything We can't we can't cover up prime ag land that's what drives the economy in South County Okay, 700 million dollars that comes here We're not just talking about feed workers out there and they're the they're probably the most important people we have here But we're talking about the people do the manufacturing they do that locally they make that the products where you put all of the The vegetables or the fruit and everything else into it The truck drivers that come here daily And that they're shipping it to all parts of the country We also have the cold storages that have to keep everything fresh and It's it's driving our economy in South County So we have to protect the jobs of the field workers We have to protect the jobs of the packaging the truckers and everybody else Okay, we have passed on the board of supervisors over 50 different permits to try to make the county more business friendly and And I think we're we're getting a word. We're actually getting things done We've addressed a lot of these problems. We want to maintain what we have We don't want to destroy the good things we have here with some kind of a dream that had really no backing behind it Okay, so the Minabi out project I worked on that when I was on the city council And I've worked on it actually as a board Member of the Board of Supervisors That is a good plan for South County We're talking about 90 something acres out there. It's not prime ag land We we worked very hard on getting access roads out there. We worked with the local Businesses couch distributors trying to get them to come together to allow an access road there for the Manufacturing for the and then also safe routes to the school off of a lonely Parkway That plan would work We could bring in close to 2,000 manufacturing jobs, but the city administration Made some major mistakes on when they did the entire project So it didn't come under economic. It didn't come under the redevelopment of money and funding But we still have to look at that and state of the state of California can change things to make that project go forward It's actually a very good project Thank you Mr. Sales Our comment in question Historically the South County has had many challenges and restrictions imposed during the negotiations with members of previous County Board of Supervisors Regarding annexations such as the monogamy and properties which fell in the city of freedom that was incorporated into the city limits of Watson Your question would be what and how would you leverage negotiations with the current supervisors with revenue and land use issues the South County faces I Think probably the most important thing when you're looking at trying to work with the Board of Supervisors on land use and revenue is Plain to getting their respect The bottom line is working with them not as as if you're looking up to them But as an equal and one of the things I think is good about my background is having I was a local trustee and the school board But currently and for the last actually 20 years I've been the Pajaro Valley representative to the County Board of Education So every month I meet with people from Scott's Valley, Santa Cruz, LIBO, APCOS and work with them to do what is best for bringing resources Educationally to the Pajaro Valley that has been my job for the last 20 years to stand up for this area With current Board of Supervisors, I think we're actually having a great board of supervisors we can work with In the past we've had some real ideologues up there who kind of couldn't be turned and didn't want to You know compromise on anything and matter of fact what was brought up the Madabi Island issue is probably the best example You'll ever see when that came before Latka and I was there And you've had about 43 speakers come before Latka the local agency formation commission 42 of them said this is a good idea 42 of the 43 we had wetlands watch there. We had the school district there. We had the Chamber of Commerce there We had agriculture there One person got up and said I don't think it's a good idea and you've had somebody who was a member of the Board of Supervisors say I think that's who we should listen to I Don't think that's the situation now And I think what I bring to the table is the fact that I've had that experience of working with people from throughout the county I think we've got a good board of supervisors that we can't work with I personally though every one of these people I don't know the person Is an election going on in Santa Cruz so we'll see what that turns out But everybody else on there I've worked with in the past. They've been very good people and enjoy working with them Land use is a big deal down here and as I pointed out We were actually side-by-side working against measure T and that was a very important thing to do because There was a big push probably 10 years ago now maybe longer. It's called measure you and so let's draw a line Let's bring anybody together chamber realtors agriculture business You name it. We bought them off. You know literally meetings with 50 people in them and said where can we find common ground to make this work? And we actually put together a plan took it to the voters and it passed So I really want to try to stick to I meant like I would insist we stick to that urban limit line and protect our Agricultural core that is this valley Thank you I Have your question That use is a highly debated topic throughout our county We have such a limited resource available and this is even more evident in Watsonville Which is limited to six and a half square miles and where we have the density of 8,000 people per square mile Which far exceeds even the city of Oakland? This creates housing challenges and in already cost the housing market Your question when considering annexation What infrastructure would you consider to balance housing? Density and job creation to support the affordability costs to live here. This is where I definitely disagree with the supervisor You know, yeah, this is a community that many of us see as home we we were raised here and We've seen this community change these annexations a lot of more putting a lot of low-income housing in onto the land We're not building jobs. We're putting homes on here to for low-income purposes and this has to stop We had about 30 acres that had to go throughout Santa Cruz County. This happened a while ago This is old news 15 of those acres came down here to Watsonville We cannot continue to be adding more low-income housing onto our properties. We don't have the services We don't have the police force. We don't have the fire departments to handle this We need to start building our economy start putting jobs and buildings onto the lands that we're going to be Developing and we need to start moving away from the low-income portion We don't we have way more than our fair share We took 50% of what needed to be put throughout this county That is not fair We need someone who's gonna go and fight for us to say that when you redistribute it needs to be done fairly and equally You know, I know with the Naviao project that is also on the plate more Low-income housing will be built on it. I Will do everything. I will fight against it. I will also fight to save Atkinson Lane Which I know was we lost 10 acres there as well When we're annexing, why are we annexed to fit jobs and buildings on there that are actually going to be putting people to work? Not just how is people down here? I will work endlessly to make sure that when we develop land It is done properly, but we also got a first take a look about all the empty buildings We have throughout our community. We need to start filling those as well So we have a lot of property that's vacant We have a lot of buildings that are vacant and we have land that we want to start developing so You guys have a fight or a need to go and make sure that things are distributed equally in this when it comes to Who's going to be getting what what fair share of housing throughout the community and on the land? Like we said our economy is based off of agriculture We cannot be continuing to get have agriculture to become home base for Tons of people who aren't even working in the community. We need to create jobs create jobs create jobs and I will do that Thank you I hope that you feel these are been pretty equally divided Everything's been completely neutral blindside in terms of the questions go to which candidate so please Keep that in mind Well, it's been a very slow process from our economic County the city of Watsonville has fallen far behind the remainder of our county in its recovery At more than 22% unemployment rate. We still face more than double the highest unemployment figures in our state How do you feel about South County job creation with land use development for projects such as big-box stores retail or attracting manufacturing jobs in the South County thank you, so Really easy for all of us to say jobs jobs jobs. That's what we need but we have no land to create the jobs and measure T was dead on arrival never going to happen and That's the way it is we need to accept that Farming is our foundation But it's not the end all be all because if it was we wouldn't have 23% unemployment So we have to keep farming strong But we have to find the tax-based revenue someplace else non-forming business That means to we need to better promote some of the business that we have Like Pajaro dunes getting visitors here to stay and spend and drive Some place in the South County to spend some money get him to his ditch farms and you pick up and promote Businesses that we have My colleagues spoke about when I'll be out Here's what the County Board of Supervisors has to do in conjunction with the city is We have to form a relationship So that we can go undo these restrictions Manabe out is so restricted because it is industrial only and the only way to get into it is through a residential street that is 12 feet wide It is prohibited from having egress from Riverside or a rowing So restriction one get rid of it and we need to put some commercial there and Everybody says we want to keep all of our businesses small. That's what we have small businesses It doesn't generate enough taxes for us There is a reason why target is like the second or third highest grossing tax revenue generator in South County because people shop there So we need to create some infield. We're not going to do formula. We already figured that out So we've got to get people like Bill Hansen or people with capital that will either Redo buildings to bring in headquarters. I'll give you an example Whole Foods headquarters Located in South County that brings 60 employees if we could bring company that would bring in a hundred employees To a headquarters or bring back the courts for another 60 employees pretty soon We would generate enough people for business to want to serve and And and Monogna will be viable if we can work together And one of the members of the board of supervisors is already endorsed me. I'm ready to work with them I've worked with Bruce McPherson my whole career when he was in the Senate. So this can be done It's just going to take some very hard work to get it done Thank you Given time permit if there are anybody that is in the audience that has questions make sure to get into a Betty because I've asked For the last question and after that I do have a wrap up for the candidates So if we have time permitted, I want to make sure that everybody would turn something into her case I do have additional time left over before the end of the session So our next question will be based off of transportation Mr. Captain The relationship the county has had with Caltrans means that we must involve the state and the federal government on funding resources That are allocated through Caltrans The question how would you work on prioritizing rollout projects using funds from the government make work programs? To pair with the unemployment problems we have in this community Well, if you're putting all of that on Caltrans, they're not going to take care of all of our problems Caltrans I've dealt with them many times. I've dealt with them on the The the corridor highway 152 college road and Hula hand road We put in a crosswalk a safe route to the school there. There was nine years waiting People in night the city of Watsonville was not involved in that because the They said it was outside the city limits But the fact of the matter is that working with Caltrans and almost all the jobs that That went into that $80,000 project were all local Construction workers and local electricians that put in the crosswalk and made it a safe route to the middle school there That was eight years in the waiting and we did get the funding so when we're talking about How? Transportation and everything sure we have to look at the widening of the freeway that goes between here and Santa Cruz Everybody talks about the traffic congestion of the people trying to get out of Watsonville We have to create jobs here. So people aren't actually commuting out of Watsonville Maybe maybe more are going to come here and work but now but but I'll be out is a good project We worked very hard getting access roads and safe routes for the school area and Like I said trying to get that area Built up and actually bringing manufacturing jobs here Transportation we can improve for greatly We we did it. We we actually bought the rail the rail line and We're working very hard. I'm trying to get that up when I first got on the board The railroad was up for sale and the county was voting on actually purchasing it And I said I would go for it as long as they had passenger service for Watsonville The the actual plan on the books was to have only passenger service from Aptos to Santa Cruz and for the Watsonville area to Aptos was only freight and I'm happy to announce that actually In the rail Purchase now Passage or service to Watsonville will be provided. I remember my mother and my aunts They used to catch the train in Watsonville and actually go to Santa Cruz the old Santa Cruz business college and they got their degrees there and You you it would actually be one way of improving some transportation in the area But there's there's a lot to do winding the freeway. It's not the only answer Okay, so we do have to look at it very closely Thank you All right, Mr. Sands There's quite a bit of deferred maintenance on roads and infrastructure throughout the county It is quite competitive yet funding for these projects Your question is what prioritization would you like to see in place for funding brought to this district on infrastructure projects Good good question in that it's something that I see all the time When you drive any around anywhere outside of the city of Watsonville in the county where we have a role there are so many places where you go where you're going down the road and Literally you have in the middle of nowhere There's a stop sign and use another stop sign on the other side because the road is washed out And it seems like because the state has had so little money for so long because of budget issues and tax issues That almost nothing has come to the local levels. It's all gone to big highway projects and things in the middle of the state Those types of things so as far as priorities go, you know, I would love to see lighting everywhere I don't see all the roads being widened with with sides that have space for bicycle riders and maybe room for joggers too But at this point at this time we need to take care of the deferred maintenance It was mentioned earlier some of the things that have been done in the last couple of years There are dozens of things that still need to be done to be fixed Just so that we have good ingress and egress throughout our area and those kind of things have been sitting there for well unfortunately for decades now and Those have to be our priority The other thing that is I think really impressive and this is kind of strange I'm running for county supervisor, which means I'll actually have to go to work in Santa Cruz and now when we're talking about traffic The way that a bottleneck when they did the widening of highway one They went all they did was move the bottleneck down a couple of miles and unless they widen the whole thing all the way It doesn't make any sense. So it has to be a greater plan than just inching down and waiting for the funds Also with the rail trail one of the things that I was worried about when they were talking about it was you hear a lot of talk about Even though they called the rail trail the trail the trail the trail bike trail walking trail hiking trail The money to buy that came from transportation funds. They were earmarked for rail and They use those funds to purchase it and then talk about making it a recreational place Well, I stand with our current supervisor and saying that there needs to be a line going from Watsonville to Santa Cruz And there should be hubs at every major area where there are transportation hubs like bus stations and Parking and those types of things so that people can get to here to at cost to capital it to Santa Cruz And even up towards Scott's Valley, San Lorenzo so that we can get more people off the highway Even though that doesn't need to be fixed but it's our priority. There's so much that needs to be repaired before we start looking at What we'd like to see happen 32 miles of coastal trail the rail trail was recently purchased by the Seneca's metropolitan transit district The first bit of the expansion we see is expected to be on the Watsonville portion of this quarter Your question, what would you consider the highest and best use of this option for transportation purposes? This is really interesting Being someone who is physically responsible. I have a hard time seeing how the Rail once it gets through its phase of In people kind of in curiosity phase being effective and how it's going to pay for itself down the road And that's going to fall in the tax dollar that's going to fall on our taxes So we need to actually think of ways to be effective with our use of money And what will be the best route of getting people to and from North County? I'm I'm form-widing the widening the freeway. I don't know if you've ever been sitting in that traffic before it's unbelievable But if you're on a rail trail on the railroad and you're taking it to a work If you're not if you don't work close to where you Where the stop is that you're not going to be using it You're going to be helping to use some other source of transportation It's not like a city where you subway stops where they take you and they kind of drop you off You know close to your work. So this has to be an effective use of our money. I don't see it that way I think that we need to also work on other forms. I have a big proponent proponent of widening the freeway I know they have to start it down below or standard started up in Santa Cruz It needs to continue and finally meet itself up here in South County. So And that's where I think that our money should be we should be spent Finding alternative way because I know at the end of the day, we're gonna be stuck with the bill For the rail trail and I don't think any tax pay taxpayers that we wanted to pick up that bill I know I don't want so But transportation is a big issue and we definitely need to start thinking outside of the box when we are figuring out What we're gonna do right now one of the logical things to do is definitely continue working on highway one Why need it when we can and yes, even if we have to do it at a snail pace at least we're continuing to do it until it's done But that is I believe our number one issue that we need to start working on. Thank you And we're going to have a one step here We have more than 30,000 cars commuting over highway 17 daily For better paying jobs and even more drivers commuting the Wasaville onto highway one from work placement in Santa Cruz This results in a larger Employed residents in South County Utilizing highway one resources to get to work Your question. How would you prioritize and advocate for relieving this problem? The highway is in California. It is Caltrans and it is a part of the regional transportation Commission that one of the board members sits on and they Look ten years down the road to set aside funds So that Caltrans has enough money as we move forward to do the white name that you're seeing coming our way And to do improvements on off-ramps and on-ramps so that we can move cars So that means we have to have a very close relationship with our assembly member our senator and I do and As I told the farm Bureau We don't have to like all of the assembly members and the senators But they are our assembly members and our senators and we have to work with them and I'm happy to work with them on your behalf So I'm in agreement with most of my colleagues here That is very important to keep funds to widen the highway and the off-ramps and the on-ramps We almost gave away about six months ago Five hundred million dollars to the member of the board of Santa Cruz That represents Santa Cruz to take our money and put it in the highway nine exchange and thank God that didn't happen Let me just talk a moment about the rail trail because there is no rail in the trail I am working hard with the farmers of this valley and Very educated. I was just there yesterday with Peter Navarro. I've been there with Miles Ryder We got a serious problem as the rail trail takes 30 feet of either side of that railroad track and Enhance people Walking and having a great time with their with their pets on this trail Go back a couple of years first-bound farms. They thought a cow got in there and went goop or something So now we have 40 more Regulations and we have to put fences to keep people out of farms and now we're putting our farmers at risk By bringing people This trail splits their farms So here's what I propose. We're going to do an alternative Alternative around where these tracks are and there's actually a place that was pointed out to me yesterday That we got to start working on and I'm working on that with the farm Bureau and with the farmers that are supporting me And I'm going to get some some help from some of the other board of supervisors because we got it We got to create an alternative for about the first two or three miles going outside of Watsonville One quick comment about County roads. Here's how this works The County engineers figure out what the priorities of fixing roads in the county is Dependent and I know my time is up on how bad the roads are from the Santa Clara County line that are on us The only way we change that but then I change that is that the budget hearings with my other members of the board of supervisors to move our projects up or After they're done is to try to work a trade So you look up here and say who do you think to make the best trade with the other members of the board of supervisors? Because it ain't happening that Betty Do you have any cards if you can come up with me? What I'd like to do is to offer five minutes of time For each of the candidates to go ahead and give me a conclusion Any recap of any items that may have been addressed from other Candidates you have a five-minute window and what I'd like to do is to go ahead and start backwards Mr. Medina I can have you begin. I think I'm going to shade it four and a half for you though. That's okay. Okay, that's fair enough, right? So I'm going to go back to my overarching issue here because we're not going to solve any of these problems until we solve Ourselves we got to stop suing one another. We got to stop stopping each other from doing things and we got to stop looking backwards so I'm proposing that I Reached out and I've got a couple of people in each of these heavy hitters groups that are willing to say I'm willing to change And when we start that with no big project in front of us We can start to build a little bit of trust in one another and start looking forward instead of back And we got to do that before we start tackling everything that we talked about. I'm ready to do that I'm here because I want to work together. Oh, I gotta tell you the other reason for that is Everybody else in this county trust me in this region. Look at us as a dysfunctional family They don't pay any attention to us and we think it's because of them It's because of us We don't play well in the sandbox We got to get our political act together. We got to get some we got a Step forward boldly with one voice not five voices that are yelling at one another I'm here because I want to work together with you to do that. I have to win this election. I need your help to do that. I Believe if you compare my experience Over 43 years in my success that you're gonna feel very comfortable to recommend to me to your friends and to vote for me I'm the only candidate who has worked in the past in this exact type of government I have had a 15.2 million dollar budget with a hundred and four people in my staff I've driven crime rate down 25% Consistently over 20 years and that's what some years with some heavy spikes So I know how to create an environment for people to succeed. I know how to lead I Came out of retirement to help Facilitate chief Solano's battle with cancer and I was perfectly willing to give up this And I think it's a miracle these back and the fact that he's back to help me get in this race So I'm ready to put my leadership and experience and dedication to work for you on this board Watsonville and Pongarong Valley is not an island We are all interconnected and we have to realize that we're connected regionally and countywide Thanks for listening Again, thank you everybody for coming. I'm usually a life-hearted fun crack joke kind of person It's not even pretty serious because I look around our community and this is a serious problem We're in we should be angry about what's going on around us We should look at our roads. We should look around and see the fact that we're not getting resources and funds down here We should look to see that we're stagnant. We're stuck. I Am a new generation. I'm the youngest running here at almost 40 I will also be probably the third oldest on the supervisor board since three of us will be under 40 But it is time that we start moving forward We cannot continue to stay in the past If you look at that and you just look at the fact how we're not able to create jobs How the fact that our infrastructure is old and not improving? We're not creating a place that people want to come back to and This is this is a hard lesson. It's hard to hard to learn and hard to hear But it's time that we put somebody in there that takes this seriously You know, I know our current supervisor as quoted in the Santa Cruz weekly of this past December saying Maybe I should compromise a little bit more, but I don't want to compromise too much And I don't want to compromise my values. Well, guess what we need to compromise when you're in a relationship You compromise with the person you're with to get something done If you don't compromise nothing will get done. That's why in four years. He did not win one vote This needs to resonate with you you guys not one vote was one He did not get three other, you know, two other supervisors to add up to the three needed in order to get something passed We cannot continue going down the same path if we want to change We need to put somebody in there with the fire in their stomach to get the job done We need to get our roads fixed our skids on sidewalks walking home We need to be we need to be if we live out there this year village We need to get a plane going to Washington DC to work and walk the FEMA to make sure that their rates do not go up That is the first thing we need to do because stand here and say I support I support I support But until you put that into action nothing is going to get done I will put it into action. I will move forward I will make sure that these important issues are taking care of and I know if this I sound very strong and I But it is a serious issue if we want to continue bringing people home We got to make sure that we start fixing things things have not been fixed a long time So we look around and we feel comfortable where we are. We need not to feel comfortable anymore We didn't know that we are better than this The moment you pay up toss the world changes you see where the money is spent To bring the money home We have Martinelli Driscoll West Marine granted major corporations where our tax dollars lead this community And they do not come back they are redistributed to the north and they do not come home And that will stop on my time that will stop. I want to thank you all for just listening to me I appreciate it. I know I've gone to your homes. I'm gonna continue doing this I've done this for days and days and days. I know we about to come out next week. The time is here I'm sharing my vision to everybody. I hope I have everybody on board because change is coming and I am that person to do it Thank you so much for having you this evening Our next candidate we're going to have to speak with Mr. Sands This seems so strange. I've never had four and a half minutes I Hate to play off my the candidates, but I have food that I don't have to compromise My wife was 30 years sitting right back here It's the big things like that happen for 30 years. A lot of people have asked me why are you running for supervisor? And you know, I I'm I love this place when I got out of college I came home and I started business and I worked with what you should be called the CDID the central business improvement district Chamber of Commerce on the board of records. I was the founding president of a Pago Valley Pago Valley Prevention and Student Assistance. I'm cash chairman of the Bay Federal Commission so experience working with finances and with development and Economic well-being stuff that has been part of my history a Lot of people have asked me well, I've been a realtor for 27 years And Part of that is that I'm all about family When I don't have any company what I learned was when you're on your own company You go to work early in the morning get things ready for when your employees come in and then when the day is done You stay as long as you have to make sure the word is get getting done before you start the next day And so I spent a lot of time at work and I could do with them, but then when I had kids my priority is Was and will be my family My personal family my extended family and all the friends that I have in this community that have grown up with me You know contrary to what you may be hearing a lot of people stuck around Have gone to college and had come back because they love Watsonville. They love the Pago Valley I love the Pago Valley and I decided to come back here and do what I could do to make it a better place And that's what I've been doing for all these years One of the important things for me is balancing a budget could we're all talk about the economics that are happening and Having been in public office for so long and I was first elected to the Pago Valley school district board of trustees in 1985 before that I was a city planning commissioner and You know having gone through the cuts that have happened in the schools I know one of the most important things for me is not only like I said But making sure that we're not just spending the money because it's coming to be very Physically conservative and look at what is the best use of the money? What is the best use of working with our county employees city employees district employees those types of things to be effective? And that's what I've been doing for all these these years I've been part of balancing those budgets and making sure the reserves are in place So you don't have the ups and downs that you've seen The county went through the city is going through the furloughs And there's nothing worse than being something on a Friday morning You know you were gonna need and not knowing that the city is not gonna be there until Monday and Then when they're overloaded at that point as a realtor I'm working with the county planning department on a regular basis with the city planning department on a regular basis And things don't get done when you don't have the staff to do them and they don't have the tools to get things done So when we're looking at funds finally coming in We need to look at what's the most effective use of those funds and Making the whole process especially at the county more user friendly not only in planning But then all of our services that we provide and to get as much public input and employee input To make those changes happen Everybody has to buy into the process and my experience makes me the person to make that happen So I would hope that you would consider me. I'm asking you for your vote. I am gonna be outspent in this campaign drastically But I also believe that this there should be more than this There should be more going for public office They're raising a lot of money and what you've done and what you want to do Something and I'm counting on you. Thank you Four years ago, I didn't run to go along and get along It's I'm not running for to join a Mutual admiration society. I ran to represent the people of South County and make sure we got our Portion of the pie of the budget Okay, and everything I'm talking about here really relates to my wife and my children and your your children and your families We're talking about Almost a 300 billion dollar budget that we're working with my whole thing with working on the budget when I first ran Was that we run a budget the same way in good times and as in bad times when we had a lot of money It was overspent They promised it to the future. They promised it to pensions rather than razors. We're gonna give you more We're gonna give you more That isn't fair on my my wife is here and my son is playing little league baseball at this time I'm missing the game, but I'm gonna take a This is an exception actually that I'm not watching this game. I'm here, but I take my family very very seriously We we have 2150 public employees employed by the county 215 make over a hundred twenty thousand dollars a year you pay it You're the people that pay for everything that we have and myself included That's taxpayer money. We have 12 people making over 200 Thousand dollars a year on taxpayer money and we have one that is now Actually reached the three hundred thousand dollar mark am I gonna go out there and just say hey I'm gonna compromise and yeah go along with all these races. I said I stand up for the rank-and-file workers I'm not standing up for more races at the top In the first year that I was on the board. They were gonna lay off 25 people and they were almost all rank-and-file workers I said I'm not gonna go along with this if we're gonna lay anybody off It's gotta be at the top you can't just tell people that they're gone We had contracts with those rank-and-file people. We can't have department heads going out there And they don't have anybody to hold the shovel They don't have anybody to do the clerical work. Those are the people that drive this economy If you can't have a department head and nobody working for that person, so What I'm saying is we have to we have to look at the budget and it has to be a Sustainable we can't promise the future because your children and my children are gonna have to pay for it I have twin daughters and When I when they grow up they're gonna have to pay the debts We can't we can't have unsustainable pensions that are breaking the state of California and they're breaking the county budget that it's gonna get worse and it's gonna get worse. I made a commitment to Making sure that we got tax money from the South County I think votes that came of my way. We I don't think it's insignificant that we had we lock road and Hazeldale and Green Valley, which is a $308,000 project where the money was approved by the board on a unanimous vote and And I pushed it with public works that project got down. It was three three weeks and waited We've also had $94,000 spent on Paulson Road. We had 60,000 spent on Carlton Road to get rid of the washouts So that's very significant. I stood up for the fair the airport that brings in a lot of the door economy Approximately three million dollars a year I'm not for building around the airport because that'll end up closing the east west of runways And that'll end up closing the airport at Kitsom Lane of opposed since the beginning the 65 acres out there is not a good Plan and a good project. I think we're all defined by more Than the title we hold faith family and friends are very important to me I'm going to be the same person on June the 4th as I am on that I am on June the 2nd What happens on June the 3rd doesn't change us Okay, and as far as campaign spending goes I commit that I will not spend more than $20,000 between now and June the 3rd on the election and That's what I'm going to raise and that's what I'm going to spend We can't have a culture of greed takeover politics. Thank you I've had the opportunity to take a look at some of these questions, but perhaps I'm in In closure You have an opportunity to be a little bit of a group and ask the candidates themselves if they're willing to stay a little bit What I like to do and Enclosure of my housekeeping is to acknowledge again the use of the facility. So Thank you again very much I do have a little bit of Help here with a PG me offering us some coffee for this evening Make sure we can keep you bright eyed a bushy tail for our questions and answers And our committee is made up of a few of us Betty will be it was offered a head off of her services to help a look and review and Provide some expertise on the client questioning. So thank you very Who's done an efficient job of timekeeping as well has participated and supported us with the line of questions And that I love to use for the candidate forms this evening So what I'd like to do is to go and offer some conclusion this evening and perhaps that the candidates would like to stay Maybe there will be some audience members that would like to approach you on some of these questions And perhaps others in the meeting with you this evening. I do appreciate everybody's time for coming I'm grateful to have such a good turnout and I hope that makes a difference in you for voting for the candidacy this year Thank you