Mayor Will be Remembered as Risk Taker

Outgoing Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy served city for nearly
30 years
Morgan Hill – It’s unclear how Morgan Hill will remember outgoing Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy’s legacy, but “risk taker” is among the possibilities, for better or for worse.

As Kennedy, 68, gets ready to leave the mayor’s office Dec. 6 – and end 30 years of public service in Morgan Hill – he has this advice for City Hall leaders: 

“Don’t avoid risks to the detriment of the city.”

Kennedy can certainly hang his hat on taking risks. His 16 years on the Morgan Hill City Council – the last 10 as the city’s first directly elected mayor – have seen the city “borrow” against its future in contracting out fire services in the early 1990s and building public facilities during the past six years. The city bet on economic growth both times – racking up $11 million in reserve funds during the dot-com bonanza. Those gains helped Kennedy spearhead the construction of such facilities as the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center, the Centennial Recreation Center and the Aquatics Center. 

“Sure, it was a risk,” said Kennedy, relaxed and affable as ever on a sunny Friday morning, greeting friends who stroll in and out of the Buzz Stop Cafe on Monterey Road. “But Morgan Hill has taken risks before.”

As debate lingers on about whether the facilities need to pay for themselves, though tax dollars are nearly always required to run big recreational programs, Kennedy said it’s reasonable for public facilities to be part of the budget. But at the same time he knows the city needs to grow its economy and fill empty office parks with more companies such as Anritsu, Hospira and Specialized Bicycle Components. Yes, the city’s per capita recreation spending is relatively low, he said, but so is the Morgan Hill’s sales tax base.

Not to worry, Kennedy said. The future is bright.

“This is a high-demand area … we don’t have to settle for second or third best,” he said, noting the city’s negotiations with Fry’s Electronics for a new corporate headquarters. 

This year has already seen several economic starbursts. 247 Workspace, among the fasted growing private companies in the Bay Area, picked Morgan Hill as its home. Trader Joe’s dropped anchor, expected to open this Friday on Dunne Avenue by Highway 101. The shopping center on Cochrane Road east of Highway 101 is under construction, ready to house South County’s biggest Target store next summer along with a Chili’s Restaurant and, most likely, a Gottschalks

The growth in retail mirrors the broader population growth South County has experienced.

“People want to move here,” Kennedy said. “And downtown has potential to really boom.”

Despite some bumps in the road, Kennedy’s tenure at City Hall – before that, he served three terms on the Morgan Hill Planning Commission – has been a crucial one for Morgan Hill. The city spent more money on capital projects than it ever had before and set a new record for acquiring wealth, all while growing to a population of 36,000 people.

But things weren’t wine and roses all the time for Kennedy. His first term on the city council, beginning in 1990, saw terrific calamities take place. A third of the city’s staff was laid off, three council members were recalled by angry voters and the city’s Redevelopment Agency took a hit when voters repealed its funding plan in 1992. 

If something was wrong with how the city was doing business, Kennedy proved himself part of the cure, shepherding in a “kinder, gentler” Morgan Hill that relied more on careful listening than bumbling bluster. He supported early efforts to engage the community in crafting its RDA strategy, helping to create a 31-member task force of community leaders for a citywide visioning process. 

Out of that process, priorities for RDA spending were forged – the public wanted infrastructure improvements, such as re-paving Church Street between Dunne and Tennant avenues, affordable housing and community services like a swimming pool, senior center and theater. When an advisory vote was held in 1999, anti-RDA sentiment had faded, and the public voted to renew the RDA plan by a 2-to1 margin.

When the city again renewed the RDA funding in November, no major opposition emerged, except for those who successfully lobbied the city council to exclude eminent domain powers from the agency.

“There’s much greater awareness,” Kennedy said.

While Morgan Hill has grown and changed, Kennedy said it offers the same opportunities to get involved in the community. He moved here in 1976 from San Jose because he wanted to find neighbors he could relate to as personal friends. He traded big sprawl for scenic pastures when Morgan Hill’s population was less than 18,000 and San Jose’s was exploding.

An engineer at IBM, Kennedy soon put his problem-solving knack to work in the community. Terms on the planning commission led to a city council election and positions on the South County Regional Waste Water Authority and the Valley Transportation Authority – which would end up being two of his favorite hats. As he leaves office, he proudly points to the new waste water plant he helped plan in Gilroy and the pending double-tracking of the South County Caltrain line that’s being designed.