After returning home from his annual vacation to Arizona for San Francisco Giants’ training camp, Morgan Hill Mayor Steve Tate announced April 4 he will run for re-election.
If Tate is successful at the polls Nov. 8, he will be starting his sixth consecutive term as mayor.
“At our annual goal-setting retreat in late January, the Morgan Hill Council team, supported by our phenomenal staff, came up with a list of 44 significant projects for us to pursue this year,” Tate said in a written announcement. “I realized that at least 13 of these are not things we can accomplish in just a year’s time, but will require intense, long-term commitment to achieve the desired results, which…will make Morgan Hill even better than it is now (which is) always our goal.”
Among the upcoming projects that Tate wants to continue to remain involved in are the ongoing Morgan Hill General Plan update; an update of the Residential Development Control System which is slated to go to the voters Nov. 8; creating an Economic Development Blueprint for the city; and how to enhance recreation opportunities and preserve farmland in the Southeast Quadrant, despite a county commission’s recent rejection of the city’s latest plan.
Other high priorities for Tate include implementing the Community Choice Energy cooperative; the hiring of a new city attorney; and continued discussions with the California High Speed Rail Authority will remain important in the coming years, as that project has “reared its head” again, Tate said.
Tate, 72, added that because of the length of time he has already served, he “really had to justify” running for a sixth term.
“I am not a proponent of term limits and am very happy that we do not have them, but it does require that officeholders like myself know when they can no longer effectively serve and should call it quits,” Tate’s announcement continued.
Tate was elected to his first term as mayor in 2006. Before that, he served on the city’s planning commission and as a councilmember. He is retired from a career at IBM.
Other city offices to appear on the Nov. 8 local ballot are the city council seats currently occupied by Larry Carr and Marilyn Librers. Neither councilmember has formally announced whether they will seek re-election.
Tate’s announcement added, “Today’s council works very well together and that really makes it a pleasure to be part of it.”
