So You Want to be on City Council in Redding, CA?

Why do you want to be on City Council?

This question should be asked of each candidate in the upcoming city election. It is a good question, for this job might be considered a thankless job. Yet, a large group of candidates are going to spend quite a bit of money advertising in one way or another that they want to serve you on the Redding City Council.

So what is so good about serving on the Council? Well, let’s take a look at what makes up their jobs. First, they have to attend meetings to prepare for the Council meeting, which will meet every other week. These Council meetings usually start at 7PM, unless called earlier, and will last 3 to 4 hours, or longer. For each of these meetings, Councilpersons, if they are doing their job, must prepare for the subject matter at hand. This might involve meeting with community members, interest groups, or members of the city staff, as well as reading the documentation. This must be done if they are going to be knowledgeable on the various matters that will come before Council. Many of the matters and issues must be studied and understood, rather than just being rubber-stamped. Bottom line: lots of meetings, study, and thinking of what’s best for Redding.

Then Councilpersons have to become knowledgeable about how the City runs. In Redding, we have the City Manager form of government, and the role of the Mayor is to run the Council meetings and to represent the City and Council in public events and activities. The Mayor actually serves at the pleasure of the other Council members, for a 1 year term. All of the Council members, though, should develop a good understanding of how the various departments function, for matters will come before them that range the entire community, from pet care to paving the streets to planning a budget for personnel gains or losses. As Redding is operated, the Council depends to a large degree on the preparation that is done at the staff level, but this does not take the place of preparation on the part of each Councilperson. In fact, in Redding, there has been a great deal of concern about how much the Council just takes the staff reports as they are presented and doesn’t really do their own individual homework before the staff presentation. This issue, by the way, should definitely be asked of each candidate. Specifically, will you accept staff reports without questioning these reports, and if you question them, will you have done enough work to know what you, and they, are talking about? Will you just “rubber-stamp” reports?

Well, there is more than above, but this gives a brief idea of the Council job, and of course leads to the next question, who is qualified to serve on the Council if they are, in fact, going to do the job as above. This question needs to be asked of each candidate, for some are obviously more qualified than others and more knowledgeable than others about City matters. Some of the candidates have actually attended Council meetings, and some haven’t. You, the voters must ask these questions, for this will help to determine the qualifications. Already we are seeing signs stating integrity, experience, qualified, etc., realizing that the candidates can only put favorable characteristics on their ads. I mean, who would advertise negatives, like I’m dishonest, can’t be trusted, a scoundrel, but vote for me anyway. The only way we can get to know the real candidate and their attitudes and viewpoints, and prejudices too, is to ask the hard questions, and then wait for the answers. And, voters should be able to “hold their feet to the fire”. We deserve a high caliber of elected officials, and we need to do a better job vetting them out. Are you in favor of increasing development fees, and why? or, do you think we need a new Police station, and why? and have you figured out how the City can pay for this? If you get the deer in the headlights look, maybe that candidate doesn’t know what’s going on. And if the candidate tries to spin the answer, then don’t let them get away with it, and ask it again, maybe this time with a different inflection, like “do you really think the City can afford Turtle Bay?”. Ooh, not a good subject, but guess what, you will probably get an answer, which is what we need to know before the election.

Well folks, we have a few weeks left, and the campaign is just heating up, so here’s your chance to help influence the future of Redding. Here’s your chance to (1) elect a candidate that is going to represent you and (2) to exercise a valuable right, the right to vote, so be prepared. The future of Redding is largely influenced by the attitudes and actions of the City Council. No easy task, so let’s not treat it as if it is just another election. You can make a difference.

Ron Largent

September 17, 2008