Greg Sellers challenges Dennis Kennedy for mayor
As the filing deadline for City Council approached Wednesday afternoon, two people appeared at the City Clerk’s desk to hand in papers, one familiar to City Hall and one totally unknown.
Mark Grzan is a long-time council-watcher and critic who serves on the Urban Limit Line Committee and has appeared before most city commissions.
Kelly Bell Kubica, however, showed up out of the blue. City Clerk Irma Torrez said Kubica pulled papers, collected her 20 plus signatures and turned in the paperwork, all during the course of Wednesday business hours.
Grzan and Kubica join incumbent Larry Carr and newcomers Julia Starling and Allan Abrams on the ballot Nov. 2 for a total of five seeking the two council positions. The Kubica and Grzan signatures still must be validated by the county Registrar of Voters.
Councilman Greg Sellers and incumbent Mayor Dennis Kennedy are both vying for the two-year mayor’s position; council terms are for four years. Torrez is running unopposed for another term as city clerk as is Michael Roorda for city treasurer.
Bell Kubica said Thursday that she really had not planned to run but tripped over a copy of The Morgan Hill Times while out for a jog Wednesday morning. Opening it, she found that the filing period had been extended to Wednesday at 5 p.m.
“So I went to City Hall to get the papers, collected 27 signatures and turned them in at four minutes to 5,” Bell Kubica said.
“I’m running because I’d like to see more development downtown,” she said. “I want to find out why it is so expensive to start new businesses – we don’t seem to be very business or retail friendly.”
Bell Kubica wants to see more family-style restaurants and better shops downtown. She also is a fan of the number one Morgan Hill wish, Trader Joe’s.
“I’d kill for Trader Joe’s,” she joked.
Against adding more auto dealerships behind Walgreens and next to Courtesy Chevrolet is also a bad idea, she said – she lives near by.
“And I want to library to stay where it is,” she said.
Bell Kubica is “retired” from Silicon Valley where she sold computer servers to most of the big companies. She and her family has lived in Morgan Hill for 12 years; her four children range in age from two to 13. Kubica is active in the El Toro School Home and School Club.
“I love living here,” she said. “I want to make it better.”
Grzan, 53, is running to present a different point of view from other sitting council members. He has been especially critical of water rate increases saying frequently that conservation is the way, not rate increases.
“I wasn’t planning to run,” Grzan said, “but Hedy (Chang) not running made a difference. Things need to be done so, at this point, I don’t have the luxury of sitting back.
“We need to bring the community back into the process. With the library (location decision) and the Ford store, the council is clearly not communicating with the public. We have deficit spending, an unbalanced budget and unsustainable projects and there is no water conservation policy in place.”
Grzan said he is against the proposed indoor recreation center, not in concept, but in scope.
“It can be done more efficiently than building yet another regional center (where Morgan Hill builds a facility for Gilroy residents to enjoy).”
He believes that youth and seniors can be served in better ways.
“I would partner with the schools and increase people participating in government,” Grzan said. “I want town meetings so people can have a conversation with the council without the three-minute time limits in place at council meetings.”
Grzan supports the urban limit line green belt, has supported the community health foundation that is working to return medical services to Morgan Hill, and the dayworker center.
Married with two children, he is finance manager for Monterey County’s Department of Emergency Communication, working from Salinas. Grzan has never run for an elected office before though he served as a Parks and Recreation commissioner for the City of Sunnyvale.
“I have more experience in public service than anybody else on council,” he said, “as a finance manager, an administrator and an educator.”
Carr, seeking a second term, said recently that he thinks the council has been successful in protecting and improving Morgan Hill’s good qualities.
“However, there is still work to be done,” Carr said.
He mentioned the challenge that the state budget crisis has put on the city budget, even though the city has significant reserves saved for just such times. Carr campaigned on putting families first, invigorating the local economy, completing public facilities and preserving slow-growth.
His first term saw the completion of the community and cultural center, the aquatics center – of which he was one of two main drivers, Mayor Dennis Kennedy being the other – and planning for an indoor recreation center.
Carr lives near downtown with his wife and two small children. He is director of government relations for Stanford Hospital and Clinics.
Starling is a retired social services worker who said she is concerned that her neighborhood youth do not know about the recreational services offered in town.
Abrams is chiefly concerned about the Walnut Grove area auto dealerships; he lives in the area. Abrams also thinks the council has not been responsive to the public.
Chang decided not to seek a third term.
Susan Hughes, former councilman John Sorci, Fred DiMeo, Lee Schmidt, Marby Lee and attorney and Gavilan College trustee Laura Perry all picked up papers decided not to attempt a run for one of two council seats up for election.
Sorci said from his barbershop Wednesday that he had decided not to run for council after all. He missed filing for mayor by a few hours because the deadline was five days earlier.
“I think I will let this go right now,” Sorci said. “I could have been very effective as mayor – and I could have won.”
Sorci said he would take another look at running for mayor in two years – it is a two-year term – but, in the meantime, would look at getting the idea of term limits before Morgan Hill voters. He said that, while term limits have been a mixed blessing in Sacramento, he thinks they are just the thing for Morgan Hill.
“You do lose experience but we need new ideas,” Sorci said. “I think it would work here.”
Carol Holzgrafe covers City Hall for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at ch********@*************es.com or phoning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 201.
