ECT: Q&A With Antioch City Council Candidates

Below are questions we have posed to the candidates running for Antioch City Council this November. With two seats open and six candidates, there is someone for everyone in this race.

Candidates include: Karl Dietzel, Mary Rocha, Fred Rouse, Lamar Thorpe, Ken Turnage II and Monica Wilson.

Questions were sent via email and answers were provided in written form.  Candidates order rotates on each question:

Why are you running for City Council?

• Dietzel: Well, I am running for the second time because I still can’t just sit on the sidelines anymore. Antioch needs a working city council who is willing and able to address all of our issues, no matter what. The Antioch city council needs new council members who are willing to call it what it is, to take action, to get our city back on track. We need a new city council who is representing us, the people, not themselves, or the city manager. I believe our city manager needs to be put on notice to do his job, and if he can’t, he needs to be replaced with somebody who can, at all cost. Antioch can’t afford to be run under his “style” any longer.  I am not running to make friends; I want to represent all Antioch residents. My efforts will be, quality of life, crime, blight, economic development, jobs, transparency, common sense politics,  truly representing Antioch residents. Let go of all the pipe dreams, and do first things first.
• Rocha: I love Antioch and I feel I still have energy, knowledge, history and ideas for the future.  My past jobs have been connecting families to services so I feel I can bridge the City services to community.
• Rouse: I am running because I believe some leaders of our City have let us down. People have lost trust and feel they are not listened to and not included in decisions. I came to this city with my wife 20 years ago because it was affordable, safe, growing and near my employment. I want that back.
• Thorpe: The main reasons is that I love Antioch. My wife and I chose to live here because we wanted to raise our daughter in a community that was diverse and integrated. But we also understood that there were challenges with public safety, with blight, and with the educational system. We knew we would have to get involved, because 20 to 30 years from now, we’ll still be here. As a young family, we knew we would have the opportunity to shape where we got to live.  It’s a good city with excellent potential to be truly great. But a great city requires bold leadership, and that kind of leadership is totally lacking on the current city council.  After the success of our Measure E campaign, I received numerous phone calls and emails from folks encouraging me to run for city council. In the end, I decided I could not sit on the sidelines when city hall is so clearly out of step and out of touch with our shared values. It’s not my nature to be quiet or go along to get along. Antioch residents deserve leaders who are accountable, innovative and transparent. They also need someone who will listen and fight to make sure their voices are heard. Those are things I’m very good at.
• Turnage: The reason I am running for Council is because in my opinion we are lacking leadership and a true direction in correcting the issues facing what was once a town that is now developing into a City. We have a current Council that is being directed by the City Manager and staff, it should be the other way around. It is time to have a Council that can and will speak very directly and transparently.  The only way change can happen is to have a Council that can make a decision and give direction to the City Manager and Staff.
• Wilson: Antioch is a community that I have come to love since moving here in 2006. In 2008, I made an invest in my community and bought a home. Over the years I have come to love this city and want to help build a stronger Antioch. The city is on the brink of bigger things. In four years we have finally annexed the Wilbur corridor, businesses are coming and crime is going down, but there is still more work to do. Can public safety be better yes, can we get more industry here, yes.  The past four years has been extremely difficult and we are not out of the woods yet. We are making strides in solvency and new jobs creation. I am running to complete the hard work we have started.

Do you believe Antioch is better off than it was in 2012? Why or why not.

• Rocha: In 2012 we were talking about going bankrupt not once but twice. It was the employees who gave up their increases and cut back to four days of work that saved the City. We are now seeing an increase on our sales tax and property tax that is helping bring back the services we lost.
• Rouse: No I do not believe it is any better off. I have seen the streets change for the worse. I have read the crime reports. I have seen the homeless on our streets. I have seen some of the poorly maintained homes. I have seen housing prices stagnate. I have seen no job growth and I have seen very little business growth. How can this be an improvement over 2012?
• Thorpe: Antioch is definitely worse off. The improving economy is creating jobs around the Bay Area, but we aren’t attracting the high paying jobs that we see in Pleasanton and Livermore in spite of having a highly skilled workforce. Meanwhile, we have serious issues involving crime and blight. There are not enough police officers on the street and city services are severely lacking because city hall has not fulfilled its promises to voters. As a result of these problems, Antioch suffers from a bad reputation—some of it deserved, some of it not.  However, Antioch is better off in one sense. I see many young families choosing to move here for the same reasons I did. Many of them see the city’s potential to become a great city and are displaying the creativity and drive we need to help turn things around. I also see many long-time residents who remember when Antioch was a great city and are just as committed to bringing it back.
• Turnage: I believe this is a trick question because it can’t be answered yes or no. Antioch is better in many ways since 2012. First and foremost the citizens are taking more action upon themselves. The reason is because they are tired of waiting for the City or other responsible agencies to do it. Our Citizen involvement is crucial, from the Neighborhood Watch; clean up pages to the Organizations of Antioch to just name a few. We are also better because the economy is coming back, property values are rising again but most importantly they are rising at a normal rate and one that would be better to sustain the growth and not be a “Bubble Market”.  There are many issues to why no we are not better. Some of these are obvious and seen at every turn. Our homeless population has significantly increased causing many issues. We have pan handling at every off ramp or busy intersection. This is making a very bad first impression for any person or business visiting our City. This needs to be remedied! Our violent crime rate is unacceptable; this needs to be a priority. Our Citizens are more afraid now than ever. I know some of it is perception over reality, but perception is reality for many people.
• Wilson: Yes, I believe we are in a better place. I started when the city was on the verge of bankruptcy and for past four years the difficult decisions we’re made to put us on the road to recovery. It is a work in progress and would like to see us continue improving. We have taken steps to pay off our unfunded liability; we have increased our reserves, and are taking strategic steps to bringing back our employees and bring businesses into the city.
• Dietzel:  No, Antioch is Not better off. The down spiral is turning faster and faster. We’re now # 4 most dangerous city in the Bay Area. We have no economic growth, besides fast food Restaurants, smoke shops, alcohol shops, dollar stores etc. all of them approved and build on the north side of highway 4. We still don’t have jobs who pay living wages, No noticeable activity of our City manager to attract major companies. Businesses are closing in record numbers. Antioch residents have to go again over the hill to Concord, Walnut Creek, or Brentwood, Oakley, for shopping brands or good restaurants. The City has abandoned the Sycamore area, and the Cavello area is second. While surrounding Cities show efforts and money to get the highway shootings under control Antioch is sitting idle. Our crime and blight problems are the hindrance of attracting Major biz.

How will you work to further reduce crime and how do you propose funding for additional police services?

• Rouse: I am in support of Body Cameras, additional Police Officers and community service officers. Funding will have to come by increased fines for breaking the law and hopefully additional revenue as a result of the reduction of crime and the attraction of new business.
• Thorpe: Fortunately, the city already has two tools to reduce crime. The unfortunate part is that our leaders don’t know how to use them. As a councilmember, I will fight to remove the roadblocks to Measure C and make sure every penny from the sales tax goes toward hiring new police officers. We need to put an immediately stop to using Measure C money for baseline police funding. We also need to collect all Measure O fees, and collect them immediately. Right now the city is collecting less than half of the fees from landlords, which is embarrassing. In fact, some landlords have never even been contacted for payment. City Hall’s mishandling of both of these tools has got to stop. It’s not just about making sure funds go toward keeping residents and their families safe, which is certainly the top priority. The problem is crime affects our quality of life and hurts the city’s ability to attract employers and generate economic growth.  At the same time, residents need to be empowered to fight crime in their neighborhoods. Because most problems are being created by people who don’t even live in Antioch, people should be able to petition city hall to create parking permit programs on their streets, so they can make it uncomfortable for criminals to move into their neighborhoods and set up shop.
• Turnage: First to help further reduce crime has our obvious answers of course hire more Officers as promised, hire more CSO (to equal what we had before) ad hire more Code Enforcement (to equal what we had before). Those three need to happen and I am sure everybody agrees with it. But we as a City do not want our Council to only identify the obvious we need to be more aggressive and innovative.With that said to help reduce crime in our City we need to

1. Improve our lighting (criminals do not like well lit areas)
2. Use camera technology at intersections and parking lots
3. Take a hard line look into installing Shot Spotter
4. Revamp our mobile app service for reporting issues or suspicious incidents.
5. As police staffing increases use targeted patrolling in the traditional crime hot spots.
6. Encourage Business Owner’s and Shopping Center Owners to work directly with Code Enforcement. Have them supply a phone number to an emergency service contact in case there is an issue that needs to be addressed immediately. This list can be held at the dispatch. We are almost to the point where Brentwood takes over their own Dispatch so there will be more time available.

As for additional funding for the Police Department, the first thing I would be looking into is leakage expenditures. Like every budget there are always leakages. Where do we have “slush” spending? Get these identified first then the hard decisions can start being made. Generating additional monies for police can be done in many ways. If money is saved in landscaping, then that frees up additional funds (that was an example there are many departments to look into).

The greatest single item that can be done is making sure we are collecting the monies due to the City. The process and handling of Measure O collections has been a debacle at best. This process should have and could have been easily implemented with “in house employees”. We would have collected the monies due plus not spending 30% of that revenue to an outside company as a commission. I am aware the use of outside vendors in some cases is more cost effective than our own employees but not in this case. The process of Measure O collection as business person has been an embarrassment.

• Wilson: Police services are Antioch’s highest priority and is 70% of the city’s budget. That funding level needs to be retained or increased. More sworn officers need to be on the streets, Community Service Officers need to be hired to take care of administrative needs to keep our officers on the street. We need sworn officers focused on major crimes as well as an aggressive code enforcement program. If measure C is not extended, then Measure O funds should be devoted to police services. We need to attract more jobs in a variety of industries and take advantage of our assets, such as our proximity to the Delta and the Central Valley.
• Dietzel: We need to hire all promised and financed police officers, (measure c) hire a fully  Staffed code enforcement officers department (Measure o) Antioch needs to hire All CSO officers back (which will free up 5-10 officers on the spot who work inside) We have about $11 million from Measure C, Measure O money, higher property tax revenue, but the city manager is still not hiring. The latest excuse is “bottle neck” situation in the Human Resource Department. We also have two grants for 10 additional officers. So where is all the money? Where are all the promised officers? Antioch needs to open up the police sub-station on Lone Tree. The argument to built the sub-station was “reduce the responds time”, but the very first thing the city did, rented that substation out to political parties. I support a work load study of the police department, and to explore a shot spotter system. I  support body cameras. Stop paying $2 million dollars in overtime, hire more officers. Our hiring procedure needs to be revised. While I was against measure c, and don’t believe an extension will pass, we do need to start talking about an extension now. Unfortunately our sitting city council is avoiding all question or discussion in regards to safety.
• Rocha: Measure C is what we are depending on for increase of police.  Police and Code enforcement is our number one priority.  We will continue to look for opportunities for grants or collaboration with other agencies for funding.

Do you believe the police scanner (radio traffic) should be available to the public? Why or why not.

• Thorpe: This is a tough one. I understand why officers would be concerned when their activities are broadcast for anyone to hear. At the same time, the community has legitimate concerns about crime and the things going on in our neighborhoods. Transparency in all forms of government is very important to me as well. Most people don’t care to listen to a police scanner all day. But residents have a right to be informed so they can do what they feel is necessary to protect their homes and families. The media, too, have a right to this information. If elected, plan to revisit this issue and listen to all sides. Whether radio traffic is public or not, ultimately, we need to make sure our police officers as well as city hall are being transparent with the community about public safety.
• Turnage: No, I do not believe that the police scanner should be available in a “real” time format as it was before. I believe the police should be able to communicate within a closed system. I am sure it was rare but it is factual that criminals did listen as well as the safety of officers driving to a call. With a closed system they are able to drive safer because they do not have to use the computer to keep things “private”. With that said our Citizens need to know potential dangers. Our Police Department needs to have a public relations person just for this reason. Our world has changed and information is easily accessible. This person can easily within 10 to 15 minutes of the incident relay the information to our local news/information outlets so Citizens can be informed but the officer had enough time to arrive to their destination.
• Wilson: This has recently been implemented and it is still in its probation period. I support transparency, but we are talking about the safety of our citizens and police officers. This system was implemented so our officers can communicate with outside agencies. With most people having smart phones; criminals included, there are apps that allow criminals to monitor police communications. The encryption is necessary for our officers to protect our community in the most efficient manner. This is a probationary period and so far, it has proven successful. I am looking forward to a status update in the near future.
• Dietzel: I am not a scanner guy, but I believe this is simply an issue of transparency, and yes, the police radio traffic should be available to the public. Antioch PD has now 2  million dollar radio systems in use, but in the last year or so, a lot of crime reporting have disappeared, delayed, it looks like the motto is, “if we don’t talk about it” it never has happened. There is also very little follow up reporting.
• Rocha: I have to believe the Chief feels its a safety issue for his staff but I understand a delay can be made so public can listen in. Not sure how it works for public to use their scanners  I am willing to bridge that understanding
• Rouse: Yes. I want some of our Citizens to monitor Dispatch calls. There are safe-minded, secure and honest citizens of Antioch who would like to have some sort of listening access to these calls.

Beede Lumber Yard: Is the City correct in moving forward with the proposed development or is Save the Yard correct in fighting for a town square? How do you think this issue could have been better handled in coming to a solution?

• Turnage: I personally do not think either side is correct in what that property should be.  What I do know on this topic is that it was poorly handled by our City at best. From the inception of the idea when it was first told to the seniors all the way to the release of the video. It is common fact in business and society you have to know your audience. You do not walk into the Senior Center and tell them you are going to tear down their place and relocate them. If our City Manager would have taken just one simple step and talked to the seniors much of this would have been avoided. All he had to do was go to the Senior Center and say “I have an idea that can possibly get you a new Senior Center; if I can do so would you help me design it”. I am sure they would have been a lot more receptive to that then what happened. So now we have publicly had a group of our Citizens and City going back and forth over this property. This has once again hurt the perception of Antioch. The City could have easily put this on the ballot; there were more than enough people that wanted to see it there.
• Wilson: Yes, this issue definitely could have been handled better. The lines of communication could have been much better. I advocated for a discussion to take place regarding the feasibility of the Beede Lumber site. We need to review the funding for building and maintaining of the site regardless of what is built there.
• Karl Dietzel: We have to look at the “yard” issue for what it is. It’s a plan change, where on one side there are thousands of Antioch residents who simply demand to vote on the outcome, and on the other side, there is our city manager who wants to make a single handed decision, to bring his “friends” City Venture, into the picture. Keep in mind, the city manager does not live in Antioch, he is here only a very short time, and his only interest is to put the proposed condo built on his resume. So far the city has used all questionable tricks to derail the peoples will to vote on that issue.  I ask the city manager at the very first meeting, yard/ city, 2 years ago already to put that issue on a ballot and let the people who live here, to vote on it.
• Rocha: I know the leaders and they have a strong passion for their idea I still feel if they had included a funding mechanism like taxing the surrounding homes for the upkeep of the park it would solved some of the issues.
• Rouse: I would have liked the Citizens of Antioch to vote on this issue. Like every other controversial issue, the Citizens have different views. A vote is what decides the will of the people.
• Thorpe: The city really messed up on this one. First, 31 condominium units in that space is too much. Second, and more importantly, the city’s plan includes no economic development—it’s just more new housing. This is the same thing our city has been doing for years–more housing, no jobs. Rinse and repeat. The Save the Yard proponents have it right. What is needed is a large The city could have avoided the sort of battle going on right now but simply doing a better job of reaching out to residents when development opportunities come up. Frankly, all proposals for downtown development should include some kind of economic component. If elected, my goal will be to promote smart growth development that combines housing with grocery stores, restaurants and other amenities, so we can create a more livable, walkable downtown.

Is the City of Antioch doing a good job to bring in/retain business? What are your thoughts on how this can be improved?

• Wilson: Yes, the city is doing a good job in bringing in jobs. In 2012 there were 24,334 in the city in 2016 there are now 27,828 jobs with an increase of 3,494 jobs. This information was obtained from the county Workforcce Development Board. These are jobs from varying industries from skilled to professional positions. We need to continue bring in industries that will invest in our community by hiring local.
• Karl Dietzel: No, Antioch is not doing a good job. Again, everything starts with crime and blight. Businesses leaving Antioch by the bus load, no brand name biz in sight. Approved are dollar stores, smoke shops, alcohol store, and they are all at the north of highway 4. I will work close with our chamber of commerce, there is an obvious disconnect. I promote surveys for incoming and outgoing businesses. The city needs to set an example in promoting/ supporting local business, purchases need to be done at local business, and contracts need to be awarded to local business.  Example: don’t award landscape contracts to out of town companies, lets divide Antioch into districts, and local landscape companies can bid on it. (tax revenue, jobs). Most important, Antioch needs a economic development manager, this person who will go to high end companies headquarters, and aggressively attracts their business. After all we have now highway 4 and ebart.
• Rocha: We hired Lizeht Zepeda, Economic Developer to work with the small business to make sure we are meeting their needs and to reach out to future opportunities and we have Steve Duran who was hired as Manager for the same reason and his knowledge of Development. Currently the property on Wilbur is being market for big development and you see that new restaurants are coming on board.  We are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel which was the recession.
• Rouse: No do not think we are doing the best job we can. We need to construct the proper business offices to attract new business. We need to have a better skilled workforce for business to choose from. How assessable are our current businesses to trucking and other forms for moving equipment? How do we get companies with existing employees convinced to move to Antioch? Incentives, both in tax breaks for new business and new home buyers, a business park with surrounding eating establishments and ample parking.
• Thorpe: If success can be measured by the number of smoke shops and liquor stores a city has, I’d say the city has more than met its quota. But that’s not what makes a city great. It’s not the number of new businesses, it’s the quality of jobs they bring. We need to be the leader in the region, and part of that is competing with the cities on the 580 Corridor—like Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore—for the high tech manufacturing and research and development jobs, because those are the jobs we need to bring here to Antioch. This is why I pushed for creating business incentives while on the economic development commission, so that we could get good paying jobs instead of more smoke shops, and so fewer residents would be forced to commute two hours a day. I will continue this fight on the city council, as well as explore other ideas for attracting high quality jobs to our area.
• Turnage: In my opinion there is more that can be done. We need an Economic Development Director that actually goes to the corporate offices instead of just sending an email or flier. If our Economic Development Director is spending the majority of their time at City Hall then they are not doing their job correctly in my opinion. Yes I am sure my way does and will cost the City money for this person to travel some but in some cases you do have to spend money to generate money. Antioch is in dire need of anchor stores and businesses. Every one of these businesses receives e-mails and fliers sent to them, Sorry but the perception of Antioch right now precedes any email or flier. We need to physically get in front of them and say what Antioch is about and the changes that are coming. Every business wants to be on the front end of a good thing. That is what needs to be shown to them, this person needs to be a front man/woman for the City and sell the good things as well as dispel the negative persona that has been surrounding us a City.  This would be the catalyst for business retention as well.

Aside from what the city is doing with working with the county, what additionally can Antioch do when it comes to dealing with the homeless?

• Karl Dietzel: The city owns about 650 parcels. While most of those parcels are very small, one could be used (temporally) to provide and to erect portable housing, portable service buildings for homeless people. Not under management of the city, no, under management of none profits. I would work with county/ state/ federal agencies to apply for emergency grants.  Approach portable housing builders/ companies, asking for donation. No more special permits from the city manager for parking lot mobile shower, cloth hand outs, church services, at the parking lot by the marina. Our homeless community needs to be identified, one by one, who is homeless, who needs medical help, who needs job training, and who wants to live that way. I would also work with Opportunity Junction, to connect willing Homeless to get work training, so they can become a productive member of society. There should be a program which funds “one way tickets” to their home cities, if the person wants it.
• Rocha: The homeless population has many rights from the Federal government for that reason we have to be careful how they are treated.  We put in place an ordinance on taking grocery carts with out permission.  We had to wait until the grocery stores could mark their carts. Now the Chief is reviewing his staff to see if he can dedicate one officer to work on a plan of action to cite homeless when they take carts, stand at the highway entrances and leave a mess.   The County is giving us two tag teams one in the AM & PM shift to work out in the area to provide them medical/finances and move them to shelters.
• Rouse: I want our homeless to help us with the cleaning up of Antioch through incentives such as a voucher program. I believe we need more outreach. I believe we need to set up a common area where the homeless can gather. It’s been done elsewhere and has worked. This is not a temporary problem it is chronic homelessness that must be addressed by working harder with outside agencies and charitable groups. I also believe there is an underlining drug problem that needs a closer look.
• Thorpe: Antioch’s homeless situation is shameful. I am in favor of a no-tent ordinance that would prohibit people from setting up camps along roadsides and our trails. This would give the city an important tool to prevent homeless from becoming entrenched throughout the city. However, I don’t want to simply push homeless people from one place to another. As many as half of all homeless people suffer from mental illness or substance abuse. Many are veterans like myself. Ultimately, the county is responsible for providing services to this population, but it is in our city’s interest to find innovative ways for people in need to find treatment.
• Turnage: First we need to enforce the ordinances that are on the books about panhandling, loitering and jay walking because that is how they are getting to the medians. Next the City needs to start a City wide campaign to quit handing out money to the homeless. I know there are a portion of homeless that need and will properly use a hand up, but it is the hand out that needs to stop.  If our good citizens are so inclined to give handouts than it should only be food and clothing, items to sustain life not money to sustain a habit
• Wilson: This is a sensitive situation that needs to be dealt with carefully. We need to find a centralized location to provide wrap around services to the homeless, which will provide resources such as healthcare, job training and housing. A facility is being planned for homeless families out on Delta Fair but that is about two years out. This is going to take a collective effort partnering with our neighboring cities and faith based communities. I have advocated for an additional officers trained in dealing with the homeless.

Should the Antioch Animal Services stay under control of the police department, or placed under another jurisdiction? What do you propose be done?

• Rocha: Our Animal Shelter was voted by the community and cannot be displaced without voter permission.  What we need to do is go after the County for the amount of money our community members are paying the County Animal Control and bring it back so we can use that money to upgrade our system.  It has been unfair to expect more from the few staff that are working to keep the Shelter open.  We need medical personal so the animals can be properly identified in case of illness and more staff to help since we not only get our pets but also from the surrounding areas.  Once we get more finance available we can then decide where the animal control fits best.
• Rouse: Antioch has the responsibility to maintain a high standard of animal care in our shelter and return recovered pets to their families. If Antioch is having trouble doing this, then Antioch should not manage a shelter. It might be time to turn the administration of the shelter over or at least change the method of managing animals.
• Thorpe: To be honest, I’m not really sure what should be done. Right now, the city’s focus seems to be really more about animal “control” than animal services. I do know that stray and abandoned pets are a huge problem, and that we have many, many residents who volunteer their time and effort to help animals in need, who should be a part of the conversation.
• Turnage: I do not think that the Animal Services should be under the Police Department. In my opinion it would be best if they were under Parks and Rec with a timeframe to transitioning them to the County for control of services.
• Wilson: Yes, I believe at this time that Animal Services needs to stay under the police department since the department has the ability to enforce criminal violations regarding animal issues. We have a good staff and great volunteers but the department needs more help. We have reached out to outside organizations such as Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) to assist with adoptions, as well as options of contracting with the county to provide animal services. All options are being explored and we will look into best practices to see which works best. The shelter was able to get funding from the Workforce Development Board’s Earn & Learn East Bay program to get funding for interns to come in the Animal Shelter to assist while getting the skills they need to go into Animal/Veterinary Sciences. The shelter definitely needs a Veterinarian Technician to assist with the intake and care of animals.
• Karl Dietzel:  I fully support the privatization of our Antioch Animal Shelter. Shelter management could be done by none profits. Not by our Police Department. The Police Department needs to concentrate on crime and making our community safe. Protect and Serve. The Police Department is spending valuable man hours, and resources. Now we have a Polices Officer at the Animal Shelter, what a nonsense decision. We need that officer on the street to get bad guys.

What is the city budget and what is your understanding/opinion of how the money has been spent to date?

• Rocha: Most of our money is dedicated the only money we have is the general budget which runs around $52 million.  Measure C and Measure O is the extra money that is available one dedicated to police the other to help our budget.  We almost closed the City twice just after Vallejo went bankrupt.  The employees took a 10% cut working only 4-days a week  and police took back their guaranteed increases for wages that was in place for the last 5-years.  For that reason we are still functioning and we are now coming out of the recession but the problem is the image and community not understanding that we are moving up!!!
• Rouse: I will drive for line item budget reviews. I propose return on investment summaries. I propose zero-based budgeting goals clearly defined and implemented. I want complete disclosure on any money moved from one fund to another. I understand we have commitments to meet. But I also understand that every dollar needs to be accounted for.
• Thorpe: It’s a mess. For the past eight years, city leaders have blamed the city’s poor financial condition on the housing crisis. That’s old news. The vast majority of our general fund is spent on personnel costs. Yet the city has already cut staff, and with the fund running at a structural deficit, we’re not likely to get out of the hole anytime soon. We can all see the financial trouble the city has put itself in. While property values are rising, the trash, vandalism and blight continue to pile up. To the public, this doesn’t make any sense. But even when the city is given the resources, it mismanages them.  Measure O, for example, was intended to support our general fund, but our city can’t even collect half of the money landlords owe. Measure C was intended to be used to hire new police officers, but we can’t seem to hire them—and the city starts to shovel Measure C funds elsewhere. We desperately need transparency and financial accountability from city hall. Residents are paying to make their city great, but over and over, they are asked to settle for “good.”
• Turnage: The City Budget is the working document that that lists expected expenditure and revenue for the City.  A budget is something that needs to be set with reasonable yet conservative expectation of revenue. This is how you ensure to not have deficient spending.  Your hard expenditures are known in most cases, such as projected payroll, maintenance and improvement allotments. This allows the City to identify what funds are or are not available for programs.  In my opinion the budget has been given to Council by staff without anybody on the Council truly understanding how to develop or read a true budget. This has allowed for items such as Measure C expenditures go past the City Council without question even when the Oversight Committee was very direct that they did not agree with the way funds were allocated. This has allowed expenditures in excess to be made in areas that can more tightly regulate. To develop a budget, and know how to stay within the means of a budget, is very difficult and takes years of practice. This is something I have to do with my business and every project.
• Wilson: Our current budget is $52 million. I do believe our funding has been spent properly. We have built up our reserve, so we have funding if an emergency happens in our city. We have also started on the path to paying down our unfunded liability.
• Karl Dietzel: Antioch needs a independent audit. We have the highest budget numbers, and the lowest number of employees. Where does the money goes? Top management positions are renamed/ assigned and very large raises/ bonuses awarded. But no workers are hired. We’re spending 70,000 dollars plus for a security firms, to guard 7 empty dirt lots down town! The city took down the restrooms at the fishing pier, to built a 120,000 shade structure. And so on, and so on.

Do you believe there is a disconnect between City Hall and the residents of Antioch? If yes, how will you improve the relationship?

• Rouse: Weekly City Council meetings and more than 3 minutes for people to speak at the City Council meetings.
• Thorpe: Everyone knows there is a disconnect. The past four years have been filled with empty promises and citizen complaints that have fallen on deaf ears. Measure E is a perfect example. The city council let their egos prevent them from restricting card room gambling, even though it was clear residents wanted tougher regulations. The fact that Measure E passed with nearly a two-thirds majority shows just how tone deaf our elected officials are. We can’t make a good city great until our city eliminates these barriers and start listening to each other. Healthy civic engagement is utterly dependent on citizens being able to speak freely, be heard, and have an influence on their government. I’ve said before that our leaders need to stop putting on dog and pony shows, and talk less and listen more. As a civic leader, a volunteer in our schools and a community activist, I will make sure the voices of all residents are heard in city hall, and I will always make myself available to the community. One person won’t make a good city great. It’s going to take everybody.
• Turnage: There is a massive disconnect between City Hall and the residents, there has to be a Public Relations Liaison that communicates to the residents. Our website needs to be completely revamped for better ease and use with smart devices. There are countless ways to get information out, but not just information correct information out to the Citizens. At this time it is not being done. This would help with letting people know the activities going on in the City of Antioch, the business and that are here and also that are coming. There needs to be a fulltime employee to get this information out as well as dispel misinformation to help the perception of Antioch improve. This can also be the same person that relays Police information to media outlets so that the residents can be informed of immediate dangers, traffic issues due to accidents and updates on police activities in residential areas.
• Wilson: I do believe communication can be better between City Hall and the Community. This is something that all cites seem to struggle with. The best way to improve this is keeping the lines of communication open. We should still continue with weekly, monthly and quarterly reports. Bringing back the Town Hall meetings, with a little more regularity would help. These meeting would need to be scheduled during the week and weekends for the public to be able to attend. Continue to answer emails from the community and helping them solve their issues/problems in a timely manner.
• Dietzel: Absolutely. Nobody listens to the people, phone calls and emails are unanswered. The public has only 3 minutes to address issues, but there is no follow up. Antioch needs a city manager who lives in Antioch, a city manager who truly works to bring back our quality of life, and a city manager who is able to revitalize Antioch.
• Rocha: I would like to try taking a tag team of police, some department heads out to meet our community where they are located so exchange of information can be done.  We can do it through the neighborhood watch or use our neighborhood parks to set up meetings either week day or weekends.   You can get a lot done when people can meet each other and feel they are being heard.

On the surface, this race appears to be a tight and unpredictable four-person race between Mary Rocha, Monica Wilson, Ken Turnage II and Lamar Thorpe.

However, the no nonsense approach by both Karl Dietzel and Fred Rouse will take votes away from other four candidates–who they take votes away from is anyone’s guess and will determine the next two councilmembers. The problem with Dietzel and Rouse is neither has the funds to realistically earn a seat, however, by being in the race they are doing a nice job at raising issues that otherwise would have gone ignored this election season–that should be appreciated by every Antioch resident.

The City of Antioch has a lot of issues and the residents have a difficult choice in front of them. If they truly believe the city is moving in the right direction, then they should vote for Mary Rocha and Monica Wilson and continue to let them finish what they started during one of the most difficult times to be a councilperson.

If residents believe change is needed, then Ken Turnage II and Lamar Thorpe are the clear choices. Both are not afraid to call it like it is and will speak up against staff who may try and pull a fast one.

Come election day, this is one of the few races which may not be decided on election night.