Politics & Government

Political Notebook: City Council Incumbents Seeking Re-Election Dish on Goals, Challenges

Jake Mackenzie, Gina Belforte and Joe Callinan told Patch that they'll seek another two years on the Rohnert Park City Council.

We've heard a lot about congressional candidates throughout Sonoma County beefing up for the November 2012 election — one that promises all the glitz and tension of 2008. But local City Council candidates here are readying too for the ballot boxes.

Pundits and political commentators say, like four years ago, this election will likely draw out many young, first-time voters — either for a one of four Republican hopefuls challenging the president, or Obama, whose donor support has skyrocketed largely because of job growth as well as new reforms such as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and the Affordable Care Act. 

In Rohnert Park, local issues mirror national priorities. But one in particular takes the pie: the economy. Candidates interviewed by Rohnert Park Patch over the last few months say the budget deficit and economic development — strengthening the business climate here and creating new jobs — is the cherry on top.

Find out what's happening in Rohnert Park-Cotatiwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Though the city’s budget deficit has shrunk to $333,000, down from $2.8 million a year ago, elected officials acknowledge there’s a lot of work ahead. There’s still more than $50 million in unfunded liabilities on the books, city infrastructure is in dire need of repair, the commercial vacancy rate is sits at 30 percent conservatively — 50 on the high end. Making matters worse, officials say, the redevelopment agency that historically has funded expensive development projects here, has been disbanded. 

Rohnert Park Patch sat down with the local incumbubts seeking re-election this year — Coucilman Joe Callinan, Mayor Jake Mackenzie and Councilwoman Gina Belforte. All have told us that they intend to run, though Belforte so far is the only one to file her paperwork with the City Clerk’s office.

Find out what's happening in Rohnert Park-Cotatiwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Here's what your elected officials had to say about what the city has accomplished in the last two years, and what challenges lie ahead ... oh yeah, if you have a question for any of them, be sure to post it in the comments. Rohnert Park Patch will get the answer for you.

City Council On the Economy and Public Policy

Joe Callinan: Longtime resident, er, lifelong resident Joe Callinan is kinda famous for touting the council's hiring of City Manager Gabe Gonzalez. Well, the entire council has praised his financial background and handling of the books since he was hired in August 2010. Callinan said that's one of his biggest accomplishments, along with the city budget.

“I’m proud of what we’ve done, together as a city,” Callinan said. “When I was elected to the council three years ago, we were $8 million in the hole. But our employees have worked with us through union negotiations and for the first time, we’ve addressed our unfunded liabilities.”

“We’ve come a long way in getting our financial books in order," he added. "We’re on top of our budget within a few hundred thousand dollars, and we have the employees to thank for that."

Callinan also championed the success of getting . "We went out to the people on the sewer rates, and on Measure E. That's something."

“I think in the past, city councils were more spend, spend, spend than we are now,” he said. “We have not had leadership in our city for a long time, and with Gabe now, we do. He’s not nervous about making tough decisions and that shows.” 

Jake Mackenzie: The current mayor said development of housing, local businesses and strenghthening the relationship between the city and the schools — Sonoma State and the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District, are his biggest priorities. 

"You can blame me for everything if you want," Mackenzie joked about his record on the council. "Since I'm the longest-standing councilmember. But why I continue to run is because I want to see the city's General Plan built out."

The General Plan outlines a set of goals for the city, which include development, resource conservation, land use and planning. The growth of City Center Plaza can serve as an example — now with SMART coming, the availablity of the State Farm property and City Center Plaza.

"It’s not going to be easy," Mackenzie said. "Everyone shouts jobs, jobs, jobs and economic development, economic development, economic development — but people who are looking for places to go have many choices so it’s up to us to provide a city that is attractive."

He added: "My main interest is to continue progress and to be fiscally responsible."

Mackenzie underscored his point, that the fate the city's economy largely rests on the local educational institutions, including the local school district and Sonoma State.

"I would say equally important is to make our educational system strong and robust here in Rohnert Park," he said.

Mackenzie added that he's concerned about the dissolution of the redevelopment agency and the impact on the city's business climate, low income and homeless populations.

"Our first big challenge is how are we going to fill the holes left by the demise of the Community Development Commission," he added. "We're searching for ideas from the rest of the community — it’s a serious blow and there are monies that were coming from redevelopment funds to fund large projects here. That money is now gone."

But he also said the problems Rohnert Park is going through are not unique.

"The future of development in the city is going to be a function of the recovery of Sonoma County and, in particular, the housing sector."

Gina Belforte: Belforte agreed with the council, that it's the economy that's the most important here. She's also an outspoken proponent for the city's homeless and disenfranchised.

“The city was in a horrible spot financially a few years ago, so the budget is the biggest thing for me,” she said.

Belforte credited the unions, who she said stepped up and helped the city out of what some said a couple of  years could have resulted in bankruptcy for Sonoma County's third-largest city.

She also shined light on setting up a 20-year payment plan for unfunded liabilities, overturning Measure L and streamlining the planning and building process for new developments.

“I think that the city, to me, has taken a more collaborative role in working with not only our residential community, but businesses as well. That means a lot,” she said. “But we’re not done yet — not even close. We’ve got to work with businesses here and attract new business. And we need to work with public works to get our public facilities up to par. However, in a lot of ways, we can’t get to those until we’re financially sound.” 

Amy Ahanotu (not up for re-election): Ahanotu has often said at meetings that the city needs to do more than draft policies — real programs need to be put in place and implemented. The branch manager for Redwood Credit Union in Rohnert Park is often heard saying, "we can't operate as business as usual."

“I think the biggest thing we’ve done is get our budget under control,” he said. “The City Council worked together and realized that we can’t spend our way out of this recession; we couldn’t keep operating as business as usual.”

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” he said. “I’m very concerned about the impact the budget is going to have on the underprivileged in our community and how we’re going to deal with the loss of redevelopment funds. We also need to focus on economic development.”

He added that the council should focus on embracing new business, technology, the university and start to control crumbling infrastructure here. “We’ve put polices in place with our economic development program, but we need to focus now on implementation — how we’re going to get things done.”

Ahanotu also said the City Council took big steps in government transparency this year, with the passage of a social media policy, Reach Rohnert Park and blogging on Patch.

“Transparency in government is one of the hallmarks we have to improve on in Rohnert Park,” he said. “We are moving in the right direction, getting citizens to participate in the democratic process and promoting a two-way dialogue between the city and the community.”

Pam Stafford (not up for re-election): Stafford said union concessions and the budget are the biggest accomplishments of the City Council over the last two years. 

“We’re in such a better place,” she said. “Our council is very aware of cost and waste and that we have a smaller staff. We can’t waste time on things that aren’t going to help the city or our citizens.” 

Stafford agreed with other councilmembers, who said addressing unfunded liabilities and staying ahead of the curve on how to dissolve the redevelopment agency put the Rohnert Park ahead of other cities.

We're inviting the City Council to add comments to this story on what else they'd like to say about goals, accomplishments or challenges. There's no way we could fit everything in this article — it'd get way too long. So go ahead, add to it!

Meanwhile, Rohnert Park has set forth a strategic plan. It outlines three basic ideas, all articulated in some iteration by the council. So, what's to expect in 2012? Here's the gist:

  • Economic development, including attracting new business, developing a downtown, creating a clear identity for Rohnert Park and marketing the city.
  • Financial stability and developing partnerships with the city of Cotati, local businesses, Sonoma State University and the schools.
  • Effective government, including employee trust, use of technology as a tool for delivering services and engaging the public and for communication.
  • Goals include: Increased leadership, financial stabiltiy, delivery of public service and developing a "vibrant community."

Related content:


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here