Morgan Hill voters are looking at a busy ballot this November that will ask them to approve an $840 million bond, a utility users tax and a one-eighth-cent sales tax.
Voters will have four county measures, two city measures and a county bond to grapple with, not to mention the election of a new president and various local and state representatives.
The first of two city measures will be for a 2 percent utility users tax would cost citizens about $10 each month and the revenue, although going into the general fund, would pay for more police officers. The second measure would change the city's growth control law to add 500 units in a 20-block area of downtown and exempt the units from the yearly competitions for allotments. A third measure to reduce affordable housing in Morgan Hill, brought about through a voter initiative, was ordered off the ballot at the city's request by a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge.
County Measure A, which requires a two-thirds vote, would allow the issuance of $840 million in general obligation bonds to rebuild the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center to comply with state seismic laws and help replace closed medical facilities in downtown San Jose.
The VTA has three measures on the ballot, the most salient being Measure B, a one-eighth-cent sales tax to operate, maintain and improve a 16-mile BART extension, with stations in Milpitas, San Jose and Santa Clara. The tax requires two-thirds voter approval, and will only be collected if sufficient state and federal funds are raised to match the local expense.
Measure C, an advisory measure that does not increase taxes, asks voters whether the VTA should continue to plan, design and construct transit services in the South Bay.
Measure D requires a majority vote and asks voters to amend an existing ordinance to require that the VTA submit a comprehensive program to a citizens' watchdog committee every six years.
What was shaping up to be an edge-of-your-seat Morgan Hill municipal election, involving two possible contenders to Mayor Steve Tate, who's seeking a second term, and five candidates including the two incumbents for the two open seats on the council, ended with a lone contender for the council and no mayoral challengers. Incumbent councilmen Larry Carr and Mark Grzan are running with Parks and Recreation Commissioner Marilyn Librers, and Mayor Steve Tate will run unopposed. Businessman Nathan Benich and Shawn Tacklind each drew the necessary candidate paperwork, but did not file them by Friday's deadline. Likewise, Morgan Hill newbie Doug Dodd and Senior Advisory Commissioner William Quenneville, Sr., drew papers for the mayor's race but didn't file them.
In the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Trustees race, only the three incumbents have filed papers: Julia Hover-Smoot, Kathy Sullivan and Peter Mandel. Loritta Joan Johnson, a popular longtime Morgan Hill teacher, drew the candidate papers to run for school board but didn't file them by the deadline.
Two seats were unchallenged on the Gavilan Joint Community College District Board of Trustees and incumbents Mark Dover and Thomas Breen will maintain their posts. Two candidates, Mike Davenport and Timoteo Vasquez, are vying for the third position on the college that will be left vacant by Trustee Leonard Washington.
Natalie Everett Natalie Everett covers education and city issues for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106, ext. 201, or neverett@morganhilltimes.com.
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