Election: Q&A with mayoral candidates

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Mayoral candidates Kirk Bertolet, Joseph Carrillo and incumbent Steve Tate agreed to answer the same questions about their candidacy for the next two-year term at the head of the council dais. Below are biographical information about each candidate and their answers to the Times’ questions.

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Kirk Bertolet

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“I am a husband, a father and a grandfather,” Bertolet, 59, wrote to the Times. “I am a US Air Force Veteran. I served my country and now I want to serve my community. I am an electrician by trade and work for Valley Transportation Authority in the signals department. I am an animal lover and a motorcycle enthusiast. I have been serving on the Inclusive Park committee, helping build a beautiful park for everyone. I love this town. You don’t know what you got till it’s gone.”

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Bertolet, a two-year resident of Morgan Hill, thinks there is currently a “disconnect” between the current City Hall administration and the taxpayers. He says that observation is based on his discussions with locals as he has prepared to campaign for the Nov. 8 election. Specifically, the “anger” that people feel is related to rapid growth in housing construction in recent years, which was fueled by the council’s granting of deadline extension requests for builders who acquired allocations during the Great Recession but didn’t have the funds to build until the slump let up.

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In addition to the issues below, if elected, Bertolet would like to influence the city to implement an “eVoting” system of sorts, which would allow residents and taxpayers to directly offer input and ask questions of their councilmembers live, while meetings are taking place and decisions being made.

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He added as mayor, he would try to give police more resources to address property crimes, particularly vehicle thefts and burglaries, and speeding and other traffic violations throughout town. “With that, there will be an incurred cost that we will need a creative solution (for),” Bertolet said.

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He also thinks the city’s elected officials should be subject to term limits, which are not currently in place.

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Joseph Carrillo

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Joseph Carrillo, 27, has run for a seat on the city council in three previous elections, but this is his first time running for mayor. “I just like to keep trying and never give up,” Carrillo said in a recent interview with the Times. “I enjoy challenges and extensive work on complex issues. My favorite part of politics is public speaking, because I enjoy large audiences.”

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The central aspect of Carrillo’s campaign platform is to make Morgan Hill more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly, and he is pleased with the city’s recent efforts to achieve that goal in the downtown. “I’ve always been an environmentalist. I want to try to make (Morgan Hill) one of the greenest cities,” said Carrillo, whose primary mode of transportation is his bicycle.

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He’s also a supporter of small businesses, and he thinks the city developed its new downtown “too fast” because the construction projects forced a number of long-established shops and restaurants to leave the neighborhood where they’ve been successful. Carrillo himself is the owner of a small media production company.

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Carrillo also wants to bring more “tourism and entertainment” options to Morgan Hill in order to generate more public revenues. He also supports efforts to preserve agriculture and open space in and around the city. “We need more education—a lot of people don’t know where their food is coming from,” he added, suggesting the city could combine its agricultural heritage and tourism efforts to facilitate some sort of public educational project.

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The nine-year Morgan Hill resident is also an avid swimmer and has volunteered at the Morgan Hill Aquatics Center on Condit Road.

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Steve Tate

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Incumbent Mayor Steve Tate is running for his sixth consecutive term in the office and, at 72, says this will be his last if the voters reelect him. Tate is retired from IBM, and is a former Morgan Hill planning commissioner and councilmember.

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In an April 2016 profile that appeared in the Times after Tate announced he will seek another term, he said he wants to continue working on a number of large-scale, long-term planning efforts that City Hall has started and implemented in the last two years. These include the General Plan update, a growth control ordinance renewal measure (Measure S) that the council agreed to place on the Nov. 8 ballot, an Economic Development Blueprint, agricultural preservation and others.

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TIMES: Why are you running for the office of mayor? Why do you believe you are the best candidate and how would you like to impact Morgan Hill as an elected official?

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BERTOLET: I am not a person that just complains about problems. I am the person that steps up, gets involved and tries to find solutions. Because I care about this town and want to preserve Morgan Hill’s small-town feel, I believe I am the best candidate for the future. I have been listening to the people of this beautiful city and feel they want a mayor that is more responsive to their needs and desires. Slow the Growth!

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CARRILLO: I am running for mayor to promote a pedestrian and bicycle friendly city while attracting more tourists. I am also in favor of promoting more small business and preserving agriculture.

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TATE: To use my experience and leadership in one final term to move Morgan Hill forward with carefully planned and managed growth, both residential and commercial. To make sure we preserve as much agriculture and open space as possible while expanding recreational offerings. To lead economic development efforts, increasing city income to better maintain infrastructure and reduce unfunded liabilities.

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TIMES: Do you think Morgan Hill is growing too fast, too slowly or just the right pace? Why? What would you seek to do as mayor to address any growth-related concerns?

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CARRILLO: Growth is good as long as small business development is happening the same or faster than residential development. We need to encourage more new small businesses to open downtown.

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TATE: Growth has been about right until now, but requires very careful management going forward. The existing growth control measure guarantees reaching 48,000 population in 2020 through a mandatory formula. Measure S on the (Nov. 8) ballot changes it to making a maximum of 215 annual allocations, scaling back when needed. We are approaching a “build out” condition so we need to be careful. Annexing more land requires another agency’s approval, and they are not open, so we need to work with them.

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BERTOLET: SLOW THE GROWTH! No on Measure S! I think Morgan Hill is growing way too fast and the many people I talk with agree. Adding 10,000 more people to Morgan Hill will not reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality or reduce ambient noise. We need to develop our infrastructure before more housing and focus on getting more industry in Morgan Hill.

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TIMES: What aspects of city services do you think need the most improvement? How would you go about improving these services?

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TATE: Infrastructure, especially roadways, need improved maintenance. We need more revenue to do that, and our residents won’t support more taxes. Attaining economic development goals can provide some funds and we will look for other sources while also educating residents on the needs in this area. Our outstanding Police and Fire services are constantly improving through outcome-based strategies. Slow development services turnaround times are being addressed through software automation.

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BERTOLET: Morgan Hill needs to improve infrastructure, roads repair and improved traffic safety measures such as crosswalk lights downtown. We also need an animal control officer. MHPD needs more resources to deal with traffic problems (speeders) and property crimes.

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CARRILLO: Traffic improvements to encourage more traffic to use Butterfield instead of driving through downtown on Monterey Road. For example, adding left turn lanes on Monterey road to Cochrane to direct through traffic to Butterfield Boulevard. Also, lowering the speed limit through downtown to make it safer for bicyclists to share the lanes and pedestrians to cross the road.

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TIMES: How would you plan to stay in tune with the taxpayers if elected, and to what extent would that weigh in your decision making process as mayor?

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BERTOLET: I will be available to the citizens via social media, email, council meetings, eVoting and social media surveys. Enough with the high-cost private survey and consulting companies. The people must be heard and need their concerns addressed. I want total transparency by the council and honest answers to citizens’ questions in a timely manner – no more surprises with last minute rate or tax increases.

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CARRILLO: As a taxpayer I am always in tune with taxpayers. Although I do believe the city needs to increase tax revenue to pay for needed community services.

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TATE: I am accessible to anyone, just call for an appointment. Regular “Coffee with the Mayor” sessions encourage dialogue on issues and provide valuable input to me. I visit the Senior Center and Youth Action Council meetings monthly, responding to their issues and getting input.  On the dais, all input has influence on me, staff reports, Q&A, public input and discussion.
TIMES: How do you feel about the council’s recent efforts to overhaul the downtown corridor and bring more business to this neighborhood?
CARRILLO: As a downtown resident, I was adversely affected by the downtown construction. More effort should have been given to preserve the downtown natural environment such as the several large trees that were removed. They should have limited the development in stages so that the existing local businesses could remain in business downtown.

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TATE: I am proud of our accomplishments. Losing the RDA, I thought our vision for downtown was lost, and now it is being realized! Our economic development plans will bring jobs filled by Morgan Hill residents, cutting commute traffic out of town. Today’s traffic mess is caused by non-Morgan Hill residents using our streets to avoid the freeway backup. Traffic problems are not unique to Morgan Hill; Measure B on the ballot addresses this issue regionally with many benefits for Morgan Hill.

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BERTOLET: The recent development of the downtown will be good for all—eventually. I am not convinced that the residents are in favor of a Santana Row style downtown which is where it is going as planned. I do not believe the infrastructure (parking and pedestrian safety) will accommodate the extra poorly planned developments. We need much better oversight with more input from our people.

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Candidates for available seats for Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Trustees, Morgan Hill City Council, the mayor’s seat and the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s South County seat on the board of directors have been invited to appear at upcoming candidate forums.

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On Sept. 22, the Gilroy-Morgan Hill Patriots will host a forum for council, mayor, MHUSD and SCVWD candidates at the San Martin Lions Club, 12415 Murphy Ave., from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

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On Sept. 29, starting at 6:30 p.m., the Morgan Hill chapter of the American Association of University Women will co-sponsor a forum that will feature candidates for the mayor’s and council election, as well as MHUSD trustee seats. That forum will take place at Morgan Hill City Council chambers, 17555 Peak Ave.