Candidate for
Council Member; City of Folsom

I love the City I have lived in for the past 23 years. I originally ran for office to clean up many of the problems facing Folsom and over my eight years on the Council I feel like I have done that. My primary goal for the City when I was first elected was to improve the quality and level of service of public safety in the City. When I started eight years ago, both the police and fire departments were severely under funded and service to the residents was sub-par. During my term, I was involved in hiring the first professional police chief, Sam Spiegel, and devoted significant time and resources to nearly double the size of the Folsom Police Department, adding 57 police officers and support personnel. The Folsom Police Department is probably now one of the best departments in Northern California, if not the entire state. I remain committed to maintain Folsom PD has a very high priority.

Likewise, Folsom's fire department lacked adequate resources when I arrived on the scene in 2000. Through my efforts, the Department has added 26 fire personnel and improved response times to serve Folsom residents much more effectively. The Folsom Fire Department is now a top notch professional fire service which is regarded very highly by the residents of the City.

I've changed the philosophy of our City government to devote significantly more resources to improving the infrastructure of the City and have eliminated the sewer problems that plagued us for so many years. I am working hard to continue to find additional water supplies to protect the City from drought in the coming years.

I also worked very hard to improve the success of the City of Folsom from an economic development standpoint. I, along with the City Manager, created a long-term strategic plan for the City in 2002. I have personally been involved in bringing several businesses including Trader Joes, Mervyn's, Circuit City, Costco, In-N-Out Burger and numerous other businesses to Folsom. I was also able to convince the organizers of the only California full distance triathlon, the "CaliforniaMan", to hold their event in Folsom resulting in significant revenues to local businesses. I believe that a strong business base in the community provides the revenues for cities to fund the public benefits such as parks as well as keeping the public safe by maintaining a strong police and fire presence. I also worked diligently to secure the commitment of Kaiser Permanente to build a hospital facility in Folsom in the coming years, resulting in the addition of some 1500 jobs.

Finally, although unexpected, when the Federal government closed the Dam Road right before I became Mayor, I have worked feverishly to secure funding for the new bridge below the dam. While serving as the Mayor, I testified before the United States Congress twice on behalf of the residents of Folsom in support of the federal legislation authorizing the construction of a new bridge below the Folsom Dam. The legislation was approved by the Congress and signed by the President and the new bridge construction should be complete by Spring of next year. I also represented the City of Folsom before many regional elected officials in Washington D.C. in an effort to secure federal funding for projects in Folsom. During my eight year term, I have helped to secure over $90 million in federal funding for the City of Folsom.

I am running for office so I can complete projects I have started to benefit our City and to assure that it remains a fiscally viable city in the future and to protect the quality of life we all love.