Voice of the People: What Does A Mayor Do in Grand Terrace?

What distinguishes the role and power of the Mayor (in our city) from a council member? One simple thing: the Mayor presides over the city council meeting and is the “face” of the city council when representing this body at public ceremonial events and when signing city documents implementing resolutions and legislative actions taken by the entire council. The Mayor of Grand Terrace has no veto power. We enjoy a strong city manager form of government. The city council domain is policy. The city manager administers the city. The Mayor has no greater legislative power than a council member. I recently watched the children’s movie, “Cloudy Skies with a Chance of Meatballs.” The town is suffering due to an economic downturn from its principal employer, a sardine cannery. The mayor laments the role of mayor in a ‘small town’ and spends his personal funds to build a sardine amusement park to gain ‘national attention.’ Clearly, the movie speaks to the public disillusionment with politicians. We must move away from disillusionment to positive action. This full city council voted to place on the ballot Measure C, to increase city revenues, and it failed. This city council had the power to suspend or modify the utility tax in light of the disclosure of unanticipated revenues. These unanticipated revenues forestalled the fiscal crisis. It is not resolved. This city is teetering. Our core fiscal crisis is not a choice between being fiscally conservative or fiscally liberal. When the city incorporated in 1978 the “Local Agency Formation Agency (LAFCO)” findings were clearly stated: the city will not have the projected revenue base to be a city. The City of Grand Terrace survived on a complex scheme of redevelopment financing to “float” the city. The state legislature abolished Redevelopment Agencies and we are again facing in 2016 the viability of our small community. We must focus on leadership, fidelity and collaboration to tackle the looming budget crisis; if not, the weather forecast for Grand Terrace is: “Cloudy Skies with a Chance of Meatballs.”