City Council Candidates Forum will
include presentation on Measure F
September 24, 2014
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Two incumbent City Councilmen, a former mayor, a pastor, the chief operating officer of a major port and the retired director of a major transit agency will face off with voters at tonight’s Candidates Forum, co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters and Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce.
After the forum there will also be information given on Measure F, the 1 percent sales tax to benefit public safety and roads.
The Wednesday, September 24 forum will give voters a chance to submit written questions to the candidates at the Community Center, 530 W. Main St. The forum will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Pastor Jenny Crosswhite, Port of Hueneme Chief Operating Officer John Demers, retired Ventura County Transportation District Executive Director Ginger Gherardi and John Procter, who served two terms on the council before declining to run for a third term in 2008, will join two-term incumbents Ralph Fernandez, a college instructor of architecture, and Bob Gonzales, the city’s retired police chief, are vying for three open council seats.
Rick Cook, now serving as mayor, declined to run for a second term. Cook had served two terms before losing his bid for reelection in 2006 but in 2010 voters returned him to the dais.
The League of Women Voters of Ventura County (LWVVC), a nonpartisan political organization that has staged the forum for years, and the Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce, an organization established to promote the business community, decided to co-sponsor the forum for candidates running in the November 4 General Election.
Members of the public are invited to attend the forum free of charge, a program that will begin with a brief opening statement from each of the candidates followed by a moderated session.
LWVVC member David Maron of Camarillo will direct questions submitted by members of the audience to each of the candidates. Candidates will be given time at the end of the program to make closing statements.
Wednesday’s Candidates Forum should be a lively one: citizens have been more and more vocal about issues ranging from a council lack of action on spiraling utility bills -Santa Paulans pay a $77.21 flat fee for sewer service that is inflated by a surcharge - and the recent new “rate” study that resulted from complaints.
An outline of Measure F will also be presented that same evening.
According to Connie Tushla of the Chamber of Commerce, following the Candidates Forum “We will break for 10 minutes and then the Committee for Measure F will make a presentation,” at 7:40 p.m.
As the police department diminished through attrition to less than 20 full-time officers, the city experienced a spate of murders, 9 in less than 18 months, a spree of homicides that started in May 2013.
The homicide rate for the previous 9 years had been 8 total, including an officer involved shooting following an exchange of gunfire.
Measure F proposes to add 1 percent to the city’s 7.5 percent sales tax; if passed by the required two-thirds majority - which legally mandates spending - the city’s sales tax would be the highest in the county at 8.5 percent.
Initially it is projected that Measure F could bring in $1.6 million annually to city coffers to be used for police (50 percent of revenues, $800,000), fire and roads (25 percent each of remaining revenues, $400,000 each).
The September 24 Candidates Forum and Measure F presentation will be filmed and broadcast on Time Warner Cable Channel 10 on a schedule to be announced.
“All will be filmed for replay on Time Warner Cable Channel 10 but,” noted Tushla, “we’re really hoping people will show up in person... “
The LWVVC hosts candidates forums in order to assist the public in learning more about individual candidates running for office. The LWVVC never endorses candidates and always conducts its forums in a manner designed to be fair and equitable to all who participate. Every candidate running for office is invited to attend.
