Two council members sworn in, another appointed
The San Juan Bautista City Council on Tuesday appointed Andy
Moore to fill the seat vacated when Robert Paradice tendered his
resignation on election day, with two years still left in his
term.
”
I’m 70 and a little tired of politics, I guess,
”
Paradice said by phone last week.
”
My council duties started to conflict with my other interests
and I just seemed to lose interest in what was going on.
Two council members sworn in, another appointed
The San Juan Bautista City Council on Tuesday appointed Andy Moore to fill the seat vacated when Robert Paradice tendered his resignation on election day, with two years still left in his term.
“I’m 70 and a little tired of politics, I guess,” Paradice said by phone last week. “My council duties started to conflict with my other interests and I just seemed to lose interest in what was going on.
Moore, who serves on the board of directors for the San Juan Bautista Chamber of Commerce, has been the safety officer for the Pajaro Valley Unified School District for 28 years and is also a licensed real estate agent. He was appointed to the council from a pool of candidates that included former city councilman George Rowe Jr., former Royal Home and Body Boutique owner Joseph Bowman, and Jim Pereyra, who finished third in the November race for two elected council seats.
In his application seeking appointment, Moore said, “I have dealt with cities and counties regarding land use issues, building permits, [and] conditional use permits.”
He previously served two terms on the board of the Aromas Tri-County Fire District and was a reserve officer for the Watsonville Police Department for 20 years.
Paradice, retired from a career in security and agriculture, had previously served five years on the city council prior to being elected to his current term in 2006.
Asked why he turned in his resignation on Nov. 4, rather than earlier, Paradice said he “wanted to spare the city the cost of a special election.”
The city had 30 days from the date of the resignation to appoint a replacement to serve out the remainder of Paradice’s term, which expires in 2010.
Joe Paul Gonzalez, San Benito County’s head elections official, said a special election would not have been needed to fill the unexpired term because agencies like the city council are allowed to appoint a person to fill up to two years of an elected term. Had Paradice resigned with more than two years left in his term, his seat would have been filled by a temporary appointment, and then the seat would have come up during a regular election.
In addition to finding it difficult “to get pumped up to sit through four-hour meetings,” Paradice said he was disappointed that more is not being done to improve the city.
“The obvious thing about San Juan is that to get something done requires a lot of money,” as the city hires consultants to do much of its business.
Asked if she was surprised by Paradice’s resignation, Councilwoman Priscilla Hill said she “declined to answer that because I know Bob personally.”
The economic downturn has particularly hamstrung the city, which is heavily reliant on tourists’ discretionary spending at the various shops and restaurants throughout the historic town.
“You can shoot a cannon ball down Main Street” and not hit anybody, Paradice said, noting the drop-off in tourists visiting San Juan. “It’s a one-industry town – tourism. I grew up in Monterey when there wasn’t any tourism, so to speak. They took Monterey and turned it into a tourist attraction.”
However, he noted, that coastal city is also affected by the bad economy.
“You’re at the mercy of people who have money to spend,” he said.
Paradice said that San Juan “is going to have to find something other than tourism to hang its hat on.”
A slowing economy combined with job losses and higher consumer costs have combined to affect San Juan at a time when residents are reluctant to support proposals designed to fund infrastructure improvements.
“You can’t ask for higher taxes [in San Juan]” because “without city improvements being made, it’s hard to agree to something like that,” Paradice said.
Asked about his accomplishments during his recent tenure on the council, Paradice said “I went to meetings for two years. I showed up.” He also noted that citizens have become more vocal at council meetings, but he lamented that there is “still a lot of the same” in the city.
Paradice’s resignation means that two of San Juan’s five council members will have been appointed to their seats to fill out the terms of elected council people who are no longer serving. Councilman Ed Laverone is completing the term of Jeff Bagley, who won a seat in 2006. Bagley turned it down before he took the oath of office because he was also employed by the city’s public works department.
Bagley, who now works for a company with which San Juan contracts for public works, ran for election again this year but did not garner enough votes to be elected to one of two open spots. Incumbent Rick Edge, a Realtor, and Maggie Bilich, San Juan’s retired city clerk, were sworn in to the council on Tuesday.
