All five candidates for Gilroy City Council appeared at a public forum in the Gilroy Library Oct. 2 hosted by the League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women. They addressed topics ranging from how to best address Gilroy’s growth and an uptick in housing to what kind of changes they would like to see at City Hall and each candidate had the opportunity to speak to voters before the Nov. 4 election.
Incumbent Council Members Dion Bracco and Peter Leroe-Munoz, who has served on the council for two terms and one term, respectively, sat alongside candidates Tom Fischer, Paul Kloecker and Roland Velasco. Both Kloecker and Velasco previously served on the council.
But while each council hopeful had an opportunity to share what sets them apart, there were more similarities between them than outright differences on many hot button issues.
All candidates said they’re in favor of Measure F—the half-cent general-purpose sales tax measure that would increase Gilroy’s sales tax from 8.75 to 9.25 percent. Support for the measure fluctuated between enthusiastic and reluctant during the forum.
Roland Velasco, who served two terms beginning in 1999, said while he wasn’t sold on the measure at first, he still supports it as a means for the city to fund “one-time needs,” pointing to seismic repairs needed at fire stations in Gilroy and the upgrade of emergency communications equipment.
“I really don’t like the way the city council thought through the process and how it ended up getting sold to the community. Having said that, again, I am supporting it—reluctantly,” Velasco said. “No one likes taxes. No one wants to pay more. But these services that receive revenue from the tax is absolutely critical.
“No one in today’s world writes a tax check to the city of Gilroy,” Bracco added. “It goes to the county or it goes to the state—and we’re at their mercy. They give us back money, but they make us jump through hoops to get it and tell us what we can use it for. We need to secure some kind of funding to fix our streets.”
Kloecker, who currently serves as a planning commissioner and former three-term council member beginning in 1983, said he was pleased the council tacked on a citizen oversight committee that will keep an eye on how, if the measure passes, sales tax funding is used.
“The decision makers on this issue are the voters, not city council, the planning commission, candidates or anyone else. I think the voters need to look at what will happen if it doesn’t pass.”
When asked what government’s job is, all five candidates agreed that public safety and providing essential services like water and sewer to residents should be the council’s top priority.
But when asked to weigh in whether Gilroy is growing too fast, too slow or just right, the candidates’ responses became more diverse. Leroe-Munoz pointed to a 263-unit, five-story affordable housing development recently approved by the council set for construction near the intersection of 10th and Alexander streets as an example of responsible growth.
“It makes sense to pursue intelligent growth and development, in particular in-fill, mixed development in our downtown area and really making smart use of the infrastructure already in place,” he added. “That’s the kind of growth Gilroy needs and will continue to see.”
Once Leroe-Munoz mentioned the project, two other candidates brought it up as an example of a development that wasn’t thought out or properly vetted with residents or the school district.
“Frankly folks, we are growing to fast right now,” Velasco said, adding that the project at 10th and Alexander streets could potentially add 500 new students to the Gilroy Unified School District. “The city needs to do a better job communicating our housing desires with the school district so that the school district can better plan for the facilities.”
Bracco cited the same project, saying Gilroy is growing “a little too fast” and said he expects it won’t do any good for downtown.
“We’re growing at an accelerated rate because of the backlog of construction over the past several years,” Kloecker explained. “Once that slows down, I think we’ll grow at the right pace. The rate of growth has to parallel the growth of infrastructure—police, fire and schools. We can’t afford to have housing outpace schools and outpace police and fire protection. We need to watch that.”
“Right now we’re in a spurt,” added Fischer, chairman of the Planning Commission. “We have a lot of housing being built that’s been in the pipeline for years, and I think we’re growing at the right pace.”
In one of the final questions of the forum, candidates were asked what they would change about the way the city operates. Many candidates agreed the city can do a better job communicating with community members, and others said it’s too hard to open a business in Gilroy.
“I think the council needs to work a little more on their open government,” Fischer said, pointing to the council’s decision in March to seek an in-house attorney and ditch a contract with San Jose-based firm Berliner Cohen. “When they decided to replace the city attorney, they held a public hearing at which there was no written staff report, no oral staff report. There was no cost-benefit analysis and when it came to the dais for discussion, there was almost no discussion. I think the public has the right to know and understand why a decision was made without any information given to the public.”
Leroe-Munoz, who formerly served as the deputy district attorney in San Benito County, said the city can do more to bring businesses to the Garlic Capital.
“The city can do a better job walking businesses through the application process, making sure we have an efficient and effective liaison between the business and the various city departments the businesses have to work with when pursuing projects,” he said.
“It can cost a lot of money just to relocate a business in Gilroy and some of the hoops they make you jump through are unnecessary,” Bracco added. “Once we approve a project, it should be done. No one should be able to go in and change the rules.”
In the same vein, Velasco said Gilroy could take a page from Phoenix, Ariz., which implemented a one-day permitting process for certain building projects to get businesses up and running more quickly.
During the forum, the moderator asked the candidates a “lightning rod” question, where they were tasked with answering “yes” or “no” as they passed the microphone across the table. When asked whether the city can do more to protect heritage oak trees, all the candidates were in agreement. In January, the Dispatch reported that a developer had illegally removed a 52-inch wide oak tree from a plot of land in the foothills of northwest Gilroy.
There are three seats open on the city council and each seat is for a four-year term.
