GILROY
– Pomp and circumstance – and traces of sadness and cheer –
filled City Council chambers Monday night as two new councilmen,
one incumbent and a new mayor officially took office Monday.
GILROY – Pomp and circumstance – and traces of sadness and cheer – filled City Council chambers Monday night as two new councilmen, one incumbent and a new mayor officially took office Monday.
Mayor Al Pinheiro and Councilmen Paul Correa, Russ Valiquette and Roland Velasco took the oath of office after former mayor Tom Springer and former Councilman Peter Arellano said their good-byes at this week’s regular City Council meeting. A crowd of more than 100 people – from family and friends of the old and new Councilmen to high-profile city players such as school board trustees and the city’s police and fire chiefs – packed festively into the City Hall foyer during a reception before the meeting started.
Good-bye to the old
A more reflective tone filled Council chambers later.
“Tom, your energy and attention to detail is simply phenomenal,” Velasco told Springer during the regular meeting. “I don’t understand how you could do this job and your work at IBM. Sometimes I think you took the last four years off (from IBM).”
To Arellano, Velasco said, “I truly believe you brought to this Council a certain constituency’s voice that needed to be heard.”
Velasco’s words were preceded by a PowerPoint presentation from Councilman Craig Gartman. Gartman showed digital photos and informational slides summarizing all that was accomplished during Springer and Arellano’s City Council tenures which ran eight and four years respectively.
Gartman told Arellano his views were always valued by the Council even though many of them ended up on the losing side of 6-1 and 5-2 votes. And Gartman credited the medical doctor for stimulating conversation that otherwise may have gone unsaid.
To Springer, Gartman gave a list of dozens of projects and initiatives that had begun and, in some cases, got completed under the former mayor’s time on the council. From completing an update of the city’s land-use bible – called the General Plan – to landing big box retail developments that will fund city coffers with tax revenue for years to come, Gartman told Springer his involvement was vital to making these things happen.
Gartman went beyond Springer’s political accomplishments, noting the former mayor’s deep commitment to attending and presiding over city events and charitable functions while remaining an active member on the Valley Transportation Authority’s board of directors.
“Tom, you’ve always been there. We could always count on you,” Gartman said.
Arellano and Springer both thanked the community for its support over the last several years, and both men shared a handshake and a hug after giving brief farewell speeches and kudos to one another.
Springer gave a somber-toned good-bye to the community and to the new Council.
“I leave you with one thought: The power of government is great. Whatever you do bring compassion and caring to the people,” Springer said. “They look to you to solve the problems they cannot. Your ability to impact their lives is great.”
The audience at City Hall gave a standing ovation to Springer and Arellano as they stepped down before the new Councilmen and mayor took their oaths.
Hello to the new
Each of the newly elected officers will now serve four-year terms ending in November 2007 and join a dais that includes Bob Dillon, Craig Gartman and Charlie Morales, all of whom must seek re-election or step down in November 2005.
In his first official act as mayor, Pinheiro named Velasco his mayor protempore – an eight-month honor given to a council member who acts as mayor in the real mayor’s absence. Dillon was the former mayor protempore.
Little other public business filled the remainder of the purposely light agenda, giving the new Councilmen and mayor a few moments to thank the community and their campaign committees for their support.
Pinheiro vowed, once again, to be a team-building and consensus-driven mayor, a type of leader some believe his predecessor – Springer – was not, and a type of leader others believe his closest competitor for the mayoral post – Lupe Arellano – could not be.
“This is a humbling experience,” Pinheiro said. “Years ago I had no plan to be mayor of this city. It’s something that just evolved.”
Pinheiro told the audience he was “not naive” to the future battles facing this new Council, but that together the Council would find answers to the many problems and challenges ahead.
“That’s my promise. We as a team will accomplish things,” Pinheiro said.
The road ahead
On Dec. 15, the new City Council will have its first regular meeting with a full agenda. And Jan. 16 to 17, the new Council will hold a retreat where the board will hammer out a two-year work plan.
“This is a chance for the new Council to set its own agenda and put its own face on things,” City Administrator Jay Baksa said.
Typically, the Council will generate dozens of issues it wants to tackle and from there Council prioritizes which items it wants city staff to begin tackling first.
Already on the city’s plate are leftover items from the former Council such as:
• Farmland preservation – The last Council sent a farmland protection bill back to the task force that wrote it. Gilroy’s General Plan calls for agricultural land to be protected when development encroaches upon other agricultural land.
• A new police station – The city is in the midst of redesigning future police station plans to get closer to the $19 million design and construction cost called for in the budget. The first draft came in at $26 million.
• Downtown revitalization – The city is trying to find funding for downtown improvements and is still waiting for a task force’s recommendations that will create, perhaps, permanent zoning laws and business incentives that will lure developers and ultimately shoppers and residents to the downtown.
• Glen Loma Ranch – Gilroy’s largest mixed-use housing development is in the middle of environmental reviews being watchdogged by union lawyers who want the project’s developers to use union workers only.
• Wal-Mart Supercenter – The retail giant wants to move its existing Arroyo Circle store to the Pacheco Pass Center shopping complex to be near Costco and Lowe’s. The move is being fought by unions and residents sympathetic to east-side supermarkets whose business could be impacted negatively with a Wal-Mart move. The new Wal-Mart would be a super-sized version of a regular store and would sell discount groceries along with its normal offerings.
“These are no small undertakings,” Baksa said. “They’ll have a full plate for the first five to seven months just on old business alone.”
