Politics

MediLeaf patrons were met with a simple, but effective sign

In the Nov. 5 election for three seats on the Gilroy City Council, incumbent Zach Hilton holds a steady lead among the six candidates, according to data from the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters website.  Two other incumbents running for reelection—Fred Tovar and Rebeca...

The state's broken economy and educational system are the top

Open seatsThis week you had a chance to vote for the people you want to run your city. Now you have a chance to get out and run things yourself.Gilroy has openings for people to serve on city boards, which make policies and recommendations to the City Council about how things should be in the city. For people interested in politics, it’s an excellent first step toward higher office. For people who just want to serve their community, it’s one of the most important things you can do. It’s also tremendously educational.Terms start in the new year and the deadline to apply is Dec. 12. Documents are available at the City of Gilroy website.Here are the openings:The Arts & Culture Commission has one opening on the seven-member board, which advises on all things to do with local art and performance. Meets the second Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m.The Bicycle Pedestrian Commission has two open seats for people to study and advise on matters of two-wheeled transportation. The five-member commission meets the fourth Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m.The Building Board of Appeals has two of five seats open on a commission that hears construction and building appeals. It meets as needed.Community and Neighborhood Revitalization Committee has three of seven open seats. It studies needs and strategies for making neighborhoods better. It meets the third Wednesday of each month at 6:45 p.m.Historic Heritage Committee has one of five seats available to work on preserving Gilroy’s history. It meets the third Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m.Housing Advisory Committee has four of nine seats open to study housing matters. It meets the second Wednesday of each month at 6 p.m.The Planning Commission has one of seven seats open. More than any body apart from the City Council, this one determines how Gilroy will look. It meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m.The Library Commission deals with the library and meets the second Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. It has two of five seats open.The Parks and Recreation Commission has two of seven openings to determine all things about parks and fun. It meets the third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m.The Personnel Commission has one of five seats available to handle city staff matters. It meets the second Monday of the month at 5:30 p.m.The Physically Challenged Board of Appeals has two of five seats open. It deals with ways the community can help those who are physically challenged. It meets the second Tuesday of each month at 10 a.m.The  Public Art Commission has two of seven openings to work on matters of public art. It meets the fourth Wednesday of the month at 5:30 p.m.Don’t just talk about what you want to see in the city: make it happen here.       

GILROY

The race for one of the spots on the school board is so close,

Labor rights icon Dolores Huerta, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2012, was in South County and San Benito County last week campaigning for her preferred candidate in the 30th District State Assembly race. On Thursday, May 24, Huerta stopped...

Gilroy School Board trustees, encouraged by a recent survey that found more than 50 percent of 501 likely November 2012 Gilroy voters would “strongly support a city sales tax for local schools,” are poised to put the ball in City Council's court.

The Gilroy City Council will vote on hiring Gabriel Gonzalez as the new city administrator on Monday, giving him a salary of $210,000 a year and a car allowance of $4,200 a year.Gonzalez, 46, a CSU-Fresno graduate and Santa Cruz native, has had five jobs in the past six years. He was the city manager of Rohnert Park from 2010-2013, then moved to Kansas to be near his daughter and worked as city manager for the town of Augusta for five months. Back in California, he was the interim finance director for the city of El Monte for five months before moving up to assistant city manager there, where he remained for a year.Since July he’s been a management consultant for Management Partners, a national consulting firm.Earlier in his career he worked for six years as the city manager of Mendota and for three years as a manager of the Clinica Sierra Vista, a Central Valley healthcare provider for low-income and rural workers. He was finance director for the city of Arvin for six years, starting in 1995, according to his LinkedIn profile.Gonzalez was acclaimed for his work in Rohnert Park, reducing the city’s debt from $9 million to $2.2 million, according to a report in the Community Voice newspaper. He was said to have cut costs and created a 10-year plan to manage the budget.“One of his favorite mottos is ‘if the money’s not in our bank, we don’t spend it.’” the paper reported him saying.Rohnert Park City Councilman Jake Mackenzie lauded Gonzalez for helping turn the city around when it was on the verge of bankruptcy. "He has done yeoman's work; he has guided us through some very real fiscal crises and set us on a good direction for the future," Mackenzie told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat on the manager’s departure in 2013.The city’s then mayor Pam Stafford also praised him in that newspaper. “He came in at a time when we knew that what we needed to do is get financial stability, and we're well on our way to that,” she said. “He did a great job.”Former Morgan Hill city manager Ed Tewes, has served Gilroy on an interim basis since September 2015. The city manager before that, Tom Haglund, left after seven years totake a job as general manager of the Tuolumne Utilities District in Sonora, where he has a second home.Gonzalez was picked by a council subcommittee that included Mayor Perry Woodward and councilmembers Terri Aulman and Daniel Harney. The city had been looking since September and pared 29 applicants down to six, who participated in extensive interviews.Gonzalez has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from National University and a Masters of Public Administration from CSU-Fresno.

The multi-county partnership that was studying the possibility of making Highway 152 a toll road has broken up.