2006 Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce
Candidates Forum Q&A

1) What is your opinion of Measure C, Morgan Hill's growth control measure?
It is positive. I chaired the committee that recommended the Measure P to Measure C updates to the voters, and they were approved by a wide margin. As we have moved from E to P to C, we have improved along the way. But I am not claiming that the system is perfect; I favor Measure F on the 11/7 ballot to modify Measure C slightly to allow 100 additional housing units in the downtown.

2) What are your thoughts about the State Infrastructure Bond Initiatives and how they affect Morgan Hill?
The state infrastructure is broken and needs to be fixed, and doing it now is much better than waiting and letting things degrade further and become too expensive to fix. The bonded indebtedness for the fixes is very large, but it should be done now so it doesn't become an insoluble, unaffordable problem. Measure 1A is extremely important as it guarantees that local governments will not be deprived of their share of the gas tax for local roadwork in the future. Our City Council has unanimously endorsed all of these measures.

3) Why should, or shouldn't, the Redevelopment Agency be extended?
It should be extended so we can provide parking and other very fundamental infrastructure for our downtown and fixes for other blighted areas of our community. Everyone treasures our downtown and wants it to thrive, we need to do extensive improvements for parking, sidewalks, lighting and so forth to really bring our Downtown Plan to fruition, and the RDA provides a source for the funding needed to do that. There are other blighted areas that also need to be addressed, and an on-going need for affordable housing. Redevelopment projects that put additional burden on our general fund should not be pursued, however, until we have a very clearly established ability for the general fund to support the added costs.

4) Do you support Measure F? Why or why not, as it relates to your opinion about mixed use retail and residential use in Downtown Morgan Hill?
Yes. I was vice-chair of the Downtown Plan committee and believe we have a very good direction established in that plan. It calls for extensive residential use in downtown, with both housing-only and mixed use projects. We coordinated with the Downtown Plan when we did the Measure C update. However, when we completed that effort, our downtown core group felt we had not allowed for enough "front-end" housing in the downtown and proposed that we allow 100 additional units in the core area. Hence Measure F. I totally support it as it is proposed and supported by the very group that has ownership of the downtown's future and will be driving the Downtown Plan to its successful implementation.

5) Is the City correctly, or incorrectly, implementing its long-term plan to reach a balanced budget?
We are implementing our sustainable budget strategy correctly. We are now forecasting a balanced budget starting with next year, 2007-2008 as called for by the strategy. But that is not our only objective. We are also using the strategy to determine what services our citizens want, as well as if and how they are willing to pay for those services. We are using tools such as the Community Conversations to do this. Since I believe that we do need to expand our safety services, but do not believe we should impose any revenue-generating programs without the full support of the voters, it is very important to me that we continue to pursue our strategy.

6) What is your position on the use of eminent domain, specifically when it would be used to replace one private enterprise with another or used as an absolute last resort?
This is a tough question that I have struggled over recently. I like the leverage that eminent domain gives the council; it would force landowners to at least talk to us about potential redevelopment of their property. But I never want to really use the power of condemning property, and if it is never used, any leverage it buys is lost. So I have concluded that the RDA should be extended the way it is now, without the power of eminent domain.

I am also very strongly opposed to Prop. 90, because of the very high land costs it would force on taxpayers, there are a lot of "hidden costs" associated with this proposition that voters need to understand; it needs to be soundly defeated. However, if the only thing in such an initiative was to outlaw use of eminent domain for private development, I believe it would pass and I would probably support it.

7) If you could sponsor and pass one ordinance or policy change during your time in office, what would it be and explain its significance?
Another difficult question to answer, and after some reflection, I think I understand why. Having served on the council for eight years, I should have accomplished the implementation of any significant policy/ordinance change by now. I think I have made significant contributions to the progress we have made toward the goals that have been set forth in our General Plan, our annual goal-setting process and our annual budget discussions. I completely understand that council accomplishments are done collaboratively, as a council, not singularly. From an implementation standpoint, the mayor is just one of five council members and has no additional weight or influence. I look forward to working with the newly elected council on achieving "our" goals and visions.

Of course, there are always areas "in process", like the extension of the redevelopment agency and the refinement of the downtown plan, efforts that need to be completed. And there are areas of on-going concern like business attraction that require constant monitoring for potential changes of our policies and ordinances in order to optimize cost recovery while still attracting new business ventures.

I am very proud of and happy with the current council direction. Dennis Kennedy deserves a lot of credit for what has been accomplished. Let's keep it going!

8) What is your position on the use of parcel or transfer taxes to fund city services or other public entities?
First, the implementation of any sort of tax or other revenue-generating mechanism needs to be accepted by a vote, one power I don't think the Council has is to impose a financial burden on our citizens without their consent. That said, our sustainable budget strategy has the objective of determining what services citizens want that they are willing to pay for, and you have listed two of many revenue options if additional services are desired.

I think we need to expand safety services to keep up with our growing population, and am willing to pursue these and other revenue-generating options with our citizens as potential funding mechanisms. We currently plan to extend the Community Conversations process, with some revisions for efficiency, to determine citizen support, and that may or may not lead to a ballot measure.

9) What differentiates you from your competitor(s)?
Experience, involvement and a very strong belief that we are going in the right direction, a direction that we need to maintain and enhance.

I am very proud of my website, www.mayortate.org and recommend a visit to it to see my extensive experience, gain insight to where the city should, in my opinion, be headed, see my list of supporters and observe many of my volunteer and campaign activities through posted photos. By reviewing the site, you will discover why I am the best qualified candidate to serve as mayor of Morgan Hill.

10) The perchlorate contamination of the City's Tennant well, and other wells, has been very expensive for Morgan Hill ratepayers. Is the City being aggressive enough in its attempts to re-coup our losses? Would you recommend a different course of action?
Yes, we have been quite aggressive in trying to force the Regional Water Quality Control Board to accept the very obvious fact that Olin is responsible for the contamination to the northeast of the Olin site. That is the necessary first step in recouping our expenses; I really don't see any alternative course of action. Litigation has been considered but deemed unproductive at the current time with things as they stand now, it certainly has not been ruled out for the future.

The perchlorate situation is quite complex. Earlier guidelines on the safe level of perchlorate content from the state are about to be revised so that a considerably higher level is acceptable. We have conservatively used the lower level as our guideline to take action to protect our citizens. While Olin will probably argue that only the higher level need be attained, the city will insist that their cleanup return the wells to the previous non-detectable levels, and that they reimburse all city expenses for the cleanup actions it has taken. The city must continue to work for the largest possible cost recovery from Olin.

11) Should the Sports Complex be completed per its proposed build out plans? If so, why, and where would you find the funds to pay for it? Or why not?
Hopefully some day we will be able to complete the sports complex according to our current plans. But doing so will place an additional financial burden on our general fund, and I do not favor doing that at this time. We need to be well out of the woods, far away from our budget deficit situation and confident that the general fund can sustain itself before we add burden to it from RDA projects or even other sources of funding.

I did support converting two of the fields to synthetic turf as a way of providing some community access to these fields. Outdoor fields were part of the "vision" of the mid-90s that we were suppose to pursue with the last RDA extension, and we did buy the land, so I felt strongly that the community should start to realize some benefit by having accessible, usable fields.

12) Should the City do more to attract more businesses to Morgan Hill? If so, what types? If not, why not?
The Chamber is asking a question that they are a partner in answering! We are doing a lot to attract businesses and there is probably always more that can be done. The Economic Development Partnership with the Chamber is a financial investment that the city makes in order to supplement our own business attraction efforts with those of the Morgan Hill business community through the Chamber. I hope that this remains a continuing focus of the Chamber Economic Development Committee.

I have been involved with recent efforts to research "what it would take" to bring biotechnology and nanotechnology businesses to Morgan Hill and will continue to work with anyone in or outside of our city to find innovative ways to bring companies here that fit into the kind of image we want Morgan Hill to reflect. There are some businesses that are not appropriate for Morgan Hill, but it is very hard to provide specific guidelines on this. We generally do not favor what are known as "big box" stores, but some of these, if sized and packaged attractively and located properly, could be desirable.

We need to support ourselves financially so we can provide adequate levels of service. Our residents indicate that attracting more business to town is a desirable way to do this, so we all need to work together on business attraction, it is quite important to our future.

13) Should the City invest in either land and/or building(s), which could be used to bring either biotech or nanotech businesses into Morgan Hill? If so, why? If not, why not?
I do not think we have enough information at this time to make a call on this one yet, but I certainly think it is worth pursuing. If we can get enough information to do some sort of business pro-forma, a determination of how much would need to be invested and the potential return on that investment, we can make some informed decisions.

I have been part of the process of researching requirements from the bio/nano-tech companies' perspective for locating their businesses. We do know that a very sizable investment would be required. We have also discussed the need to get more involvement from area colleges and universities and perhaps other local private businesses, to see if some sort of collaborative approach can be used in this area.

14) Should the City lower its impact fees? If so, why? If not, why not?
Fees should be lowered to attract more businesses to town, but should be maintained at the present level in order to cover costs. Attracting business and covering costs are both stated objective of our city council. This is very much a balancing act and very tricky.

Our fees are high and can be quite discouraging to businesses looking to build new facilities here in Morgan Hill. We do work with businesses on "deals" that provide impact fee or other relief based on incentives for attaining certain targets that provide income to the city. We apply a business analysis approach to providing incentives in return for economic benefits to Morgan Hill.

At this time, I do not favor a wholesale approach of lowering impact fees for everyone; I believe every situation needs to be looked at individually. We also should be looking at the types of businesses, for example lowering impact fees for the medical profession that we are trying to expand here in Morgan Hill.

15) Should changes be made in either policies or regulations, or both, using the Economic Development Inhibitors as guidelines that have been developed by City Staff and the Chamber? If so, why? If not, why not? Please identify one or two specific Economic Development Inhibitors as examples in your answer.
Yes, changes should and are being made. This has been a very good process and should be continued on an on-gong basis as new inhibitors are identified and others are resolved. The documentation of perceived inhibitors gives the city staff, the Chamber Economic Development community and the city council a good opportunity to have dialog and exchange perspectives about economic development in Morgan Hill. Staff and Council gain insight as to how outside businesses perceive the city while businesses and the Chamber can better understand some of the challenges faced by the city. It is one of those communications exercises that truly benefits all participants.

It is important that the Chamber, city staff and council Economic Development committee work together to bring specific recommendations to the council for debate and possible implementation. There should be sufficient discussion on these issues that all understand the final disposition, even if they do not necessarily agree with it.

Most of the currently identified inhibitors are already being addressed with, in most cases, a "compromise" approach that addresses the restrictive nature of the issue while still protecting the city. For retail uses along Monterey, our staff is creating a compromise zoning solution that will prevent small retailers from being "turned away". Uses along Condit are proposed to be expanded to include "indoor" vehicle sales and acceptable levels of retailers. The downtown impact fee exemption is proposed to be extended three more years.

16) Did you participate in any of the Community Conversations? Would you be in favor of continuing such a communication process into the future? If so, why? If not, why not?
I participated as a council member, including the pilot session for facilitator training. I found the process to be extremely beneficial to the formulation of our sustainable budget strategy and strongly favor continuing the process. We did learn as we went through the process and will likely make adjustments to make it more efficient, more affordable and more productive.

The city is charged with providing services to the citizens of Morgan Hill. I believe we need more in the way of safety services than we can currently afford to provide. In this community, you do not impose any sort of revenue-generation measure (tax) on the citizens without their direct involvement with that decision. In the end, that means a vote, but the type of measure we put to a vote needs to be very carefully constructed. The Community Conversations are the vehicle we have to interact with the citizens to determine what they would support, to help us construct a ballot measure that could be supported. Of course, we may find that no measure has a chance of support, so would not need to waste our time and money testing it in a vote.

The feedback in the first round was extremely valuable. We did not consider it a statistically valid sample; we had some polling information to complement the Conversations input and provide that kind of representation. But it provided great insight into what folks thought about our community and the services we provide, how that could be improved, and areas that should be explored further, including new ideas that had not been considered before. Now we need to do that further exploration to find out what is wanted and how it can be supported. I very much look forward to continuing the process.