Elected Positions

• Commissioner on the RTA(Riverside Transit Agency)
• Alternate for the T-NOW committee
• Alternate to the Mayor to the RCTC (Riverside County Transportation Commission)
• (second year) Representative to the SCAG (Southern California Association of Governments)
• Chairman of the economic development committee

Assignments

• Government Access Channel Committee
• Chamber of Commerce(alternate)
• SGPW(San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency) as an external group representative

Committee Updates

SCAG (Southern California Association of Governments)
I asked for and received the position of representing Banning to the SCAG board(2009-2010).  At my first general assembly meeting I discussed Banning's interest in being considered for a grant from SCAG's Compass Blueprint Project.  Even though nominations were closed, our community development department was given the opportunity to apply for a $60,000 grant.  I turned over the information to our new community development director, Zai Abu Bakar and she and her staff put together a very good proposal.  Since she was not familiar with the project or the Executive Director of SCAG, I continued the contact with Hasan (Executive Director SCAG) and Zai worked with SCAG staff and the city was awarded a grant for over one hundred thousand dollars to study traffic and sustainability.

With the mandates of SB375 and AB32 it is very important for our city to be in the forefront of sustainability design and creating a "walkable city" that includes work/live compatibility.  We must move forward on affordable housing, that is not just low or moderate income housing, but housing that is affordable for all of our residents and convenient to work locations.  I attended the two day general assembly again this year and will be forwarding information to residents and council in following updates.  The assembly fees, hotel and meals are provided for the SCAG delegates by SCAG.

(RTA) Riverside Transit Agency Board Member:
I was appointed by the Mayor to represent the city as a board member on the RTA "Riverside Transit Agency".  During my first year term I didn't request any committee assignments that were held by incumbents.  After getting my political feet wet, I asked to be on the RTA board due to my interests in being involved in all forms of transportation for the pass area.  I see air, rail, bus, carts and vehicle traffic as one process that we must prepare for in the future as population growth moves toward the pass area.  I can and will be effective in this board position.  The Feds and the State will be building a high speed rail network from San Francisco to San Diego soon and another network is privately in planning for a route from Las Vegas to Anaheim.  We must be ready as these plans come to fruition to be part of this network.  I have met at the local, county, state and federal level regarding plans for a rail station in Banning that was approved in 2006 by Marion Ashley, District Supervisor.  I am promoting this with the inclusion in the Sunset Grade separation project of a rail station that will be upgradeable to a metro link station in the future.  I have received my training and attend board meetings, T-Now (Transportation Now) meetings and other board meetings as required.

(RCTC) Riverside County Transportation Commission:
I accepted the assignment to the position of alternate board member to RCTC for the 2010 city council assignments.  I attended meetings for the two months Mayor Botts was not able to attend.

MSJC(Mount San Jacinto College)
I was asked to make a presentation to the board of directors for MSJC's proposed campus to explain the cities support for the college campus by the city in 2009.  The board approved our proposed $750,000 contribution unanimously to begin the construction process of the campus.  The location of a community college here in Banning is one of the highest economic stimulants possible for the pass area. Pass area cities, county and Morongo tribe must support this college and the future residents of this region will benefit from the combined efforts put forward now.  We must as a region support the construction, roadways to and from, public transportation, publicizing and attendance at the new college.  Having the college here has allowed us to offer to potential businesses an educated work force to support their new business.   John Husing, PhD Economist, points to our low number of college educated people in Riverside County as a reason for business not relocating to our county. I coordinated with the President of MSJC their request to RTA for consideration of bus routes to support the college's opening in November 2010, for admissions and counseling at the Sunset and Westward site.  MSJC students will be part of the MSJC Go-Pass system that allows all MSJC students to show their student cards and ride "free" wherever RTA travels.  This was approved by the RTA board April 2010.

Economic Development Committee Liaisons(2010)
As CRA Chairman, I am automatically appointed to this position.  We went through a process to refill the committee and then we called for a formation meeting.  I attended the first part of the meeting and advised the new committee I would not be staying for the meeting or attend future meetings, unless requested.  This was to allow the committee to operate without any political influence in their meetings and we will rely on reports by staff as to the progress and reports of the committee.  I did remind the committee, in the first meeting, that the council feels economic development is the cities highest priority and we support their efforts 100%.

Government Access Committee(2009,2010)
With my 20 years background in telecommunications and the construction of cable television systems nationwide, I asked to be placed on this committee.  In the past year, I worked with staff to get the studio finalized and to cure sound monitoring problems.  Sound is now monitored from both Verizon and Time Warner Cable at the city's studio and adjustments can be made or requests of the cable providers to check their system for sound problems.  This last month I asked staff to investigate the possibility of adding SAP to our broadcast studio.  As you heard in the city manager's report at the April 27th meeting, this was deemed to be too expensive since we had to have a certified translator.  I will be researching this further in the hope our Spanish speaking audience can hear our meetings converted to Spanish. Stay tuned, as they say.  Dependant on budgetary restraints, I will also be researching training seminars for the community to use our facilities that includes our portable video camera for coverage of local events that can be rebroadcast after editing, mixing and playback formatting.

Banning Chamber of Commerce:
I accepted the assignment as alternate representative for the council for the year 2010.  I have tried to attend as many chamber events as possible.  The Mayor Pro-Tem has attended the board meetings as the primary representative.

San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency:

I accepted the assignment as representative to the San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency.  I have attended meetings and have kept up with issues regarding the agency.