In front of more than 500 people, District 1 Supervisor Mike
Wasserman was sworn-in Jan. 31. Previously he served on the Los
Gatos city council and as mayor over a span of eight years. After
fewer than 60 days at the Santa Clara County office, Wasserman is
already asking county staff to examine a comprehensive attrition
plan and two-tier compensation package for future county employees.
He says he stands for fiscal responsibility and maintaining public
safety and public health are his top priorities.
In front of more than 500 people, District 1 Supervisor Mike Wasserman was sworn-in Jan. 31. Previously he served on the Los Gatos city council and as mayor over a span of eight years. After fewer than 60 days at the Santa Clara County office, Wasserman is already asking county staff to examine a comprehensive attrition plan and two-tier compensation package for future county employees. He says he stands for fiscal responsibility and maintaining public safety and public health are his top priorities. Reporter Lindsay Bryant checked in with Supervisor Wasserman Friday afternoon.
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What are your priorities right now for Santa Clara County?
The county executive has forecasted about $230 to $240 million deficit for the fiscal year that’s going to start July 1; that’s an enormous number. Also that number we’re saying is fluid and will likely increase. It’s going to move but I don’t see it moving down, I see it moving up and it also does not include anything that Sacramento has yet to do. And I really can’t see them adding a bunch of funding to the county, so if anything it’s going to work in that direction. And as a result we’re going to have to eliminate some services, and people and contracts. All of that it’s going to be a very, very, very tough next 90 days. It really is.
When you eliminate people, you’re ultimately eliminating services. And what I am going to be looking for and keeping an eye open and protecting is making sure the cuts that have to take place are fairly distributed based on needs throughout the county and that’s pretty much the effect that it will be on South County. There’s nothing specific at this point. The cuts are being asked of all departments throughout the county, and it will effect residents countywide. There’s simply not enough money to do everything.
Are there services you would like to retain more than others?
It’s a tough thing. It’s a phrase that’s perhaps being overused: “The county is a safety net.” I have group after group coming to me saying please don’t cut our jobs, please don’t reduce or cut our services. The tough decision that’s going to be is: how do you value one service over another? And the important part I think is to recognize the role the county plays: Maintaining public safety and public health and make sure as many of those services are protected as much as possible.
Also it’s important that your readers realize it’s not just the recession, it’s not just the reduction in revenue, but it’s also what’s going on in Sacramento. The fact for them to balance their budget they’re proposing to cut funding … like they proposed with the Williamson Act and RDA money … these are all things where the state is trying to balance its own budget by reducing money that it sends to cities and counties.
One thing that I enjoyed sharing with people at my swearing-in Monday night is someone described me as having, “a head for numbers and a heart for people.” For me, that kind of summed it all up. I’m a numbers guy. I’m a compassionate person. With the role of the county being the safety net, I think those are two attributes that fit in for someone in my position as a policy maker.
My goal is stop the bleeding and turn this ship around.
(Former District 1 Supervisor) Don Gage had the idea of moving the agriculture/livestock part of the Santa Clara County Fair to South County, is that something you would consider?
I talked with Don about that and we went over the pros and cons of that and I’ve discussed with dozens of other people the fairground property. Certainly it’s a piece of property that can be used for more things that it currently is. Its potential is not being fully maximized.
The question comes over the fairground portion for ag and 4-H and all of that can take place where it is now? Or do you move that to South County where most of the interests and participants are from anyway?
There are pluses and minuses if you move it from the fairground. It opens up that land for other development or use of some sort .. As many different people you speak to, you will get as many ideas of what should go on the fairground property.
If you move it to South County, specifically Gilroy, not only for the land but then for the improvement. How do you fund the improvements? Perhaps you do by selling or leasing part of the existing fairground and using those monies, but what you need to be careful of is if you do transform the existing fairground to everything but ag, you need to then make sure you take proceeds from that action and set them aside so you have them available to South County. I would certainly be open to considering moving the ag portion to South County – a site for the fairgrounds of sorts – it’s been a tradition in San Jose for a long, long time.
I certainly would be open to looking at that, but it has to make sense to do. If you do that, you have to have the funding for it, not only to build the facility but also to operate the facility. And that would be one solution. The other solution is simply to use a smaller portion of the current fairgrounds that’s more fitting to the actual use that includes ag; there’s two different choices. But you know what, it’s nice to have choices.
My focus, definitely though, is the county and by that I mean the safety net and by that I mean health and safety. We have a quarter of a billion dollar deficit that we have to deal with. So moving the fairgrounds from one location to another, right now, is not at the top of the list.
What has to be the top of everyone’s list right now is how in the world are we going to balance this budget and still provide the many services that are expected of the county.
Flooding in Morgan Hill is always an issue people are concerned with. The Upper Llagas Creek Flood Protection Project has not been completed due to a lack of funding. Is this a priority?
This whole idea of flooding and what’s going to happen with that and completing the proposed projects, all of those things need to happen. And again it comes down to funding and priorities. For me, I think something like that should definitely be a priority. See, that is a health and safety issue, so absolutely.
Do you have plans to contact our representatives at the federal level? It’s been a very slow process and a lot of people think it is too slow; downtown Morgan Hill has been flooding since the 30s.
It’s tough. People are out there talking about we should we put money into this or this or this. In the newspaper the other day someone said, “forget high-speed rail lets take care of the levees.” I mean there are a lot of water issues. There’s flooding, which is too much water and then there’s a concern about not having enough drinking water. And so there’s all these priorities.
Right now the state is scrambling around with a $25 billion deficit and the federal government, now they’re in-fighting between the two parties in Washington D.C. And there’s a lot of things changing and what’s tough to do is get our particular local issues to be priorities.
I’ve been in the office I think 55 days. And I have had at least a dozen trips to South County already, and met people and had all different kinds of discussions. They talked about the fairgrounds, they talk about the Southeast Quadrant … There’s going to be county employees in South County and throughout the whole county affected by this service reduction that we have to do. It’s going to be very painful but it’s got to get done.
To read more about Wasserman’s attrition plan for Santa Clara County employees check back Monday for a full story or in the paper edition Tuesday. To view the county’s board agendas, go to www.sccgov.org/portal/site/scc/bosagendalist.
