October 9, 2023 – It is no secret, Clovis is a special place. It is a great place to…fill in the blank…live, work, go to school, start a business, raise your family, be part of a community.
Our public safety and public schools are calling cards that are driving our population growth.
Our “Clovis Way of Life” encompasses many things, but always stands for community and excellence.
It can be easy to fall into a mentality of “better than” or “good enough,” and I truly value that Clovis resists that temptation.
Clovis ranks higher than some of our neighbors in important metrics and I appreciate and am proud of that fact.
But public service is not about comparisons, it is about delivering the best services to each and every resident.
Clovis has achieved great success because we have held strong to the principle of local control.
No one knows our community and our needs like we do. But now we face a State government that sees it differently and believes they know better than Clovis.
As a City government, we currently have fewer options for how to put the best interests of Clovis at the forefront of every decision.
Why do I share this with you? I want you to know that you are represented by people (your elected Councilmembers and those who serve on staff for our City) who care deeply about what is best for this community and are striving to maintain some local control and the level of excellence we have come to expect from Clovis, but we sometimes find ourselves between a rock and a hard place knowing that the choices before us do not always include what would be our first choice.
I have heard the concerns of community leaders and City staff, and I share the same concerns myself, that our residents who go about their lives and entrust us with running our City may not understand some of the roadblocks and regulations that have to be navigated as a municipality in California these days and think that we no longer hold to the conservative principles and local control that made Clovis such a jewel.
Often it seems your City government faces the difficult task of figuring out how to meet the requirements imposed by the State to avoid their punitive measures while not adversely affecting other necessary City services.
In fact, I have found myself in situations as one of your elected representatives being expected to cast a vote when I do not believe the City’s best interest can be achieved no matter how I vote.
You can trust that we are pushing back against oppressive mandates at every turn, but there has been so much legislation passed in just the last few years that strips power from local government.
So where is the silver lining? Where is the hope?
The answer to that will always be Clovis…our people! While our city government may face strong head winds, I find so many organizations looking for ways to connect and partner with our City to meet these challenges.
The City if Clovis is fortunate to have some of the best people around working in every department of our City, who desire to attain excellence for each and every person who calls Clovis home.
And I believe that if we are willing and able to think outside the box, we will find the creativity needed to maintain some semblance of local control and the ability to continue accomplishing the most good for our entire community.
I want to encourage individuals, service groups, businesses, faith-based organizations, and anyone else to engage with us to find ways to meet the needs of our community and allow Clovis to continue delivering on the promise of the “Clovis Way of Life.”