Six face off for three seats on Colfax City Council

Six face off for three seats on Colfax City Council In nearly a month, residents of Colfax will be electing three representatives to the Colfax City Council. Six candidates, including three incumbents, will be vying for three spots on the city council. Incumbents Trinity Burruss, Sean Lomen and Joe Fatula face off against Kim Douglass, Rocky Orozco and Larry Hillberg. This week, the Auburn Journal begins its candidate coverage to the 2022 election with a multi-part series that allows the local candidates from multiple races to address a handful of key questions concerning their races and their views on those topics, in their own words. This week the Auburn Journal features questions and answers from Colfax candidates. These are their answers. Incumbent Joe Fatula did not respond to multiple requests for answers. Larry Hillberg Occupation: Consulting Software Engineer Experience with Colfax: 25 year resident of Colfax Website/contact: walkinglarry@gmail.com What motivated you to run for city council in Colfax and what can you bring to the council? I am running for City Council in order to support and give back to my community. I bring experience from serving on multiple Boards of Directors, including for example: a Home Owners Association Board, a founding member of the Spirit of Morgan Hill Girls Softball Association, KVMR/FM Community Radio in Nevada City, and now a second time on the Sierra Vista Community Center in Colfax. I served on the Morgan Hill, California Park and Recreation Commission. What are the biggest issues facing the city and how do you plan to address them? The best way to improve a community is to make it better for the people that are already here. I will bring a passion for those people and for local businesses - especially those in downtown. I promise to encourage a more open and transparent Council, and to engage both personally and in public meetings with all who speak whether or not I support their questions and comments. I will manage Colfax funds as if they were my own and if elected will bring several items I already question to Council and Staff for public review. The biggest issue facing Colfax is the homeowners costs for their sewer bill, followed closely by policing costs, the condition of local streets, and the lack of City-supported recreation for its citizens. I will bring visibility, scrutiny, and full review for all those issues, and seek public input and hearings to identify ideas and solutions from all who bring them. What are some revenue streams you'd like to see the city take advantage of? The success of local business is the best way to bring revenue to California cities these days. Are you for or against the city's current cannabis ordinance allowing medicinal sales? Why? I have no issues with cannabis and support our licensed medical sales business like I do the others. Any other information you'd like to share with voters? I will study all material given and presented to the Council. I will bring an open mind regarding Colfax issues. I will not bring national political differences into Colfax decision-making. Kim A. Douglass Occupation: Retired Experience with City of Colfax: former council member Website/Contact: douglass_kim@yahoo.com What motivated you to run for city council in Colfax and what can you bring to the council? We currently have five council members and all five are employed leaving them little time for creative pro-active programs. Studies show that the best councils have a mix of retired and those who have full time jobs. What are the biggest issues facing the city and how do you plan to address them? A recent Placer County study indicates that our town has the lowest rating of road quality. We have ignored this road problem for years; now is time to stop talking and actually establish a road renovation project. What are some revenue streams you'd like to see the city take advantage of? We need to attract more business opportunities to our city which will build our revenue base so that we can offset rising costs; thereby avoiding the need to raise taxes (which I refuse to do). Are you for or against the city's current cannabis ordinance allowing medicinal sales? This ordinance did not bring in the revenue that it was supposed to. This ordinance was not studied properly and left both sides unhappy with the results. Any other information you'd like to share with voters? I plan to build a team to bring back family events; musical concerts, building a swimming pool. Rocky Orozco Occupation: Glass Installer, Colfax Glass - Business Owner, R&P Properties Experience with City of Colfax: NA Website/Contact: Answer not given What motivated you to run for city council in Colfax and what can you bring to the council? Colfax is my home. Recently, within the past few years, as my work has focused on Colfax, working at Colfax Glass and working for myself in the area, and volunteering through the Fr. Dermot Dwyer Colfax Council 10379 of the Knights of Columbus, as well as volunteering as a "Sight Word Buster" at Colfax Elementary School, my concern for the well-being of the City of Colfax and all our citizens has translated into a call to action. My 2013 experience with American Legion's Golden Boys's State (sponsored by Post 192) led me to believe that I can affect change. I bring corporate executive leadership to the table drawing on my experiences as an Alumni of AT&T's Business Sales Leadership Development program and subsequent Executive Sales Leadership roles within the company. Through these roles, I worked with business models ranging from mom and pop shops to Fortune 100 suppliers of radio equipment for cell phone communications. I spent time at AT&T's research and development facility in Texas known as The Foundry. My business acumen and ability to understand simple to complex operations suit well to understand how to fill the many open commercial spaces throughout Colfax. What are the biggest issues facing the city and how do you plan to address them? The biggest priority is the ongoing operation and improvement over time of our sewage water intake and output operation. Our city manager and city staff have done outstanding over the years, considering the scope and complexity of the operation. Any person considering City Council must be up to the challenge of understanding these needs, facilitating what needs to be done, and having a vision and plan by which city employees can continue to manage this operation. Grant writing is pivotal to the taxpayers' bottom line. What are some revenue streams you'd like to see the city take advantage of? We have a lot of empty commercial space all throughout Colfax. Every single empty building is a revenue opportunity. I would like to see some kind of business founding and grant writing resource within Colfax to assist aspiring entrepreneurs in opening up shop in Colfax. Colfax is dependent on very few, very large business tax revenue streams. Diversifying revenue streams is essential. The failure of a few essential businesses in Colfax would spell disaster for tax revenue. Are you for or against the city's current cannabis ordinance allowing medicinal sales? Why? Touching again on tax revenue streams, I believe the ordinance allowing medicinal sales allows the City of Colfax to tap into what is already happening within Colfax. Roseville, Sacramento, and Nevada City are all regularly delivering medicinal and recreational cannabis into Colfax. The City of Colfax should not shut itself out of new industries and should capitalize on our business potential that our neighbors are already doing very well with. Sean Lomen Occupation: Facilities Maintenance Coordinator-PCWA Experience with City of Colfax: Firefighter for the City of Colfax for 20 years. Fire Captain for the City of Colfax for 7 years. City Council Member for City of Colfax since 2018. Mayor for the City of Colfax in 2021. Website/Contact: firefighterlomen@yahoo.com What motivated you to run for city council in Colfax and what can you bring to the council? I was motivated to run for city council because of my love for this community. I have always strived to make our community a better place and I saw becoming a member of the city council as a great way to be able to do more. I think I bring a knowledgeable and locally concerned voice to my seat in council. What are the biggest issues facing the city and how do you plan to address them? I think the biggest issue facing Colfax right now is internally funding maintenance and repair projects for our roads. Grant funding that was secured several years ago has not been distributed. Regardless grant funding alone cannot be relied on for long term maintenance, repair, and replacement of our roads. What are some revenue streams you'd like to see the city take advantage of? Colfax has Measure B on the November ballot to increase our Transient Occupancy Tax. This tax will only effect tax rates on hotel room and Air BnB occupancies. Increasing revenue without impacting our citizens. I would also like to see us continue to build a strong small business presence. I have worked on many different ways to make Colfax more small business friendly and bring attention to all of the wonderful small businesses Colfax has to offer. Are you for or against the city's current cannabis ordinance allowing medicinal sales? Why? I am not against Colfax allowing its medical cannabis retailer. The question for the Colfax City Council now is, do we allow expansion of this business into the recreational market or allow any other recreational based cannabis activities? Any other information you'd like to share with voters? It has been an honor to represent my community as a council member over the last 4 years. If I am given the opportunity again I will continue to be a strong representative for our community's interests and work to make Colfax a better place. Trinity Burruss Occupation: Electric Grid Interconnection Manager, PG&E Experience with City of Colfax: 2022 Mayor and Councilmember since 2018 Website/Contact: TrinityBurruss.com What motivated you to run for city council in Colfax and what can you bring to the council? I am running for re-election because I feel I have started a significant amount of positive work in the last 4 years that I would like to see through to completion. I bring extensive experience in project management, as well as regulatory and public policy. I am well connected within the region and state, and I have a proven track record of successful negotiation and advocacy on behalf of Colfax. What are the biggest issues facing the city and how do you plan to address them? Infrastructure is at the top of my list between the condition of our roads and the high price of our sewer system we are in a budget bind that hits especially hard with the high inflation we are currently facing. As we enter 2023, we have over 10 million dollars in grants that have been approved for us to make major upgrades to our roads and the sewer plant. My goal is to have the city complete the long overdue work and balance our budget to ensure ongoing maintenance is performed. This will stabilize costs for residents and prevent us from falling back into the neglect that has left so much dilapidation. There are a number of other topics I could discuss at length but I fear it would be rather wordy for a single article. What are some revenue streams you'd like to see the city take advantage of? Grants are obviously a huge resource for small communities like ours. Make no mistake though, in the last five years there has been a very significant increase in this revenue stream for our city. The credit for that 100% goes to our incredible staff who have worked tirelessly hunting down these funds and jumping through the many application hoops. One thing I would like to see us correct in our budgeting is our heavy overreliance on a few major tax revenue streams. Because we lack diversity in our portfolio, we run a concerning risk of seeing our budget experience major impacts from a single business having a bad quarter. As local government, I think it's extremely important that we show major support to all of our businesses to ensure their success rather than relying solely on the big players. Are you for or against the city's current cannabis ordinance allowing medicinal sales? Why? My answer to this question isn't black-and-white. What I will say, is that I do not oppose the local business who has operated in our city limits for over a decade, continuing to operate. We are currently in a very challenging political climate when it comes to the discussion of cannabis. Local control has been chopped away at the state level, and we no longer have the authority to say who can or cannot provide delivery of THC-based substances within our city limits. We also do not have a mechanism to tax these out of jurisdiction businesses making sales here. Frankly, I think our current ordinance is now behind the curb legally and doesn't really accomplish much to restrict cannabis sales other than punishing law-abiding businesses who have put in the effort to work in good faith with our city. Any other information you'd like to share with voters? It has been my honor and privilege to serve Colfax as an elected official since 2018, and I would be grateful for the opportunity to continue that service following the 2022 election. I think being a servant to the public is what this job is all about. I hope that I have been able to prove that with my actions.