Greg Sellers thinks it
’s time for a new direction for Morgan Hill and he’s set out to
lead the way as mayor. Challenging a sitting mayor is never easy
but, Sellers says, after mulling the matter over for a year, he
decided to go for it and thinks the results will be worth it.
Greg Sellers thinks it’s time for a new direction for Morgan Hill and he’s set out to lead the way as mayor.
Challenging a sitting mayor is never easy but, Sellers says, after mulling the matter over for a year, he decided to go for it and thinks the results will be worth it.
Councilmen Steve Tate and Larry Carr both have said that, while they appreciate what Mayor Dennis Kennedy has done for the city, they, too, think it’s time for a change.
“We need a more dynamic and even aggressive style,” Sellers said recently, “whether you are dealing with (San Jose Mayor Ron) Gonzales over Coyote Valley development (affecting Morgan Hill) or neighborhoods worried about an auto dealership.”
Among Sellers’ endorsements is one from attorney Bruce Tichinin, the subject of an ongoing situation where Tichinin caused a private investigator to follow the city manager. Sellers and Carr wrote the report, based on the city’s investigator’s report, that was not favorable to Tichinin.
Two major petition drives (over the library site and adding a dealership on East Dunne and Walnut Grove) mean a significant failure of leadership, he said.
“Dennis (Kennedy) led both and completely left the community out. We made a deal with those folks nine years ago that there would be no more dealerships there,” Sellers said.
He believes that if there have to be changes they must start with nearby residents, going door to door, not with City Hall or with consultants.
“This is not a zoning issue, it’s a leadership issue,” he said.
For the record, he is not opposed to developing Coyote Valley; he just wants it done right.
“There are some things in the plan that are good but others, like traffic, aren’t realistic,” Sellers said. “I’d give them a (grade) C.”
Kennedy, he said, is now working to have a say in Coyote Valley but waited way too long to enter the fray.
Sellers favors building a third fire station if voters approve, and wants to start increasing staffing at the two existing stations now, if funding can be found, so the hit from a third will be less. Forming a regional fire district with Gilroy and the two agencies now protecting Morgan Hill and San Martin is a good idea, he said.
Sellers said he fought for more school resource officers and for the new police facility.
The city budget looms large on the council’s plate, including possibly extending the Redevelopment Agency. Sellers said it would need study before asking for voter approval.
“But what we don’t need is another visioning process.”
Sellers said he and Kennedy have significantly different views on the budget.
“He (Kennedy) suggested we place a sales tax measure on this fall’s ballot, when we currently have reserves of over 40 percent of our general fund.”
Sellers has always opposed sitting on such large reserves and argues that they should be no more than 20 percent.
“We shouldn’t ask the public for more money until our reserves are near depletion,” he said.
Kennedy has said he serves as a full-time mayor. Sellers says the job has always been part-time.
“It does take a lot of time; however, I’ve already demonstrated the ability to dedicate the time it takes. It’s not just how much time you put in, it’s how effective you are with your time that matters most.”
Should the city try to recover the costs of investigating the recent surveillance of the city manager over an alleged, but denied, affair with the city attorney?
“It probably won’t happen. Because of the legal and financial implications, it doesn’t make sense,” Sellers said. “Whatever we spent, we’ve saved the city a whole lot more because any number of those players could have sued us. A city employee was harassed and the potential was big. I’m willing to take the responsibility but I still think we did the right thing.”
On the sometimes contentious greenbelt line being drawn around the city:
“My concern is that we are not focusing our efforts on the hillsides, and that the effort has lost its focus on the original general plan-related issues.”
About public facilities paying for themselves, Sellers refutes the commonly held idea that the community and aquatics centers would pay for themselves from the beginning.
“The goal was to have these facilities pay for themselves in the long run, which they are doing – in fact we’re ahead of the game.”
On perchlorate in city water, Sellers says the water is safe and the city careful.
“But taking safe wells off line because there was a faint detection in one test (but not in a second), is not prudent. We need a cohesive policy that is immune from political exploitation.”
