League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Sonoma County, CA November 2, 2010 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Council Member; City of Healdsburg; 4 Year Full Term

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Sonoma County and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on budget, bridge maintenance, community building Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. In their overall review of budget priorities many cities are questioning their retirement and employment benefit packages. Would you support cutbacks in these areas? Answer from Jim Wood: Healdsburg has generous retirement and employment benefit packages. Increasing premiums for medical insurance and increases in contributions to the Public Employee Retirement System are making it difficult to sustain our current levels of benefits for employees. I believe that we need to be looking at a two-tiered system of benefits that will allow us to honor our current contracts and make the necessary structural changes to our compensation packages for newly hired employees. Further I believe that we need to thoroughly exmaine our current benefit package and restructure as necessary to compensate for the falling revenue our city has experienced and will likely experience for the years to come. 2. Because there are no city funds for maintenance of the Memorial Bridge (either the old or a new), should new funds be provided for not only maintenance of the bridge, but also for possible construction of a traffic circle in the area of Healdsburg Ave. and Westside Road/Vine Streets to redirect and possibly alleviate incoming and outgoing downtown traffic? Answer from Jim Wood: On September 7, the City Council voted for rehabilitation as the preferred alternative for Memorial Bridge. This will allow us to move forward with the necessary planning and environmental studies necessary to move forward. While I have been on the Council we have been working with federal and state officials to secure the necessary financial resources to be able to complete the project. In addition, we have been working with the US Department of Transportation and Congressman Mike Thompson to secure funding for a new freeway offramp configuration that might alleviate some of the challenges in the Westside raod area. Finally we have a committee studying the entire corridor from the freeway offramp at the Central Healdsburg exit to and including the 5-way intersection. Very shortly we should have viable options that will allow us to move forward to improve traffic flow in this critical corridor. 3. What measures can be taken to help the people who buy in Saggio Hills become a part of the Healdsburg community? Answer from Jim Wood: Should the Saggio Hills project be approved and allowed to move forward, it could be a couple of years or more before we can expect new residents to occupy any of the new homes. I would hope that anyone moving to our community would do so because it is a very nice place to live and that they would want to become a part of the fabric that makes our community what it is. I believe it is up to all of us to welcome our new neighbors and encourage their involvement in our community. Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League. Candidates may not refer to any other candidates in their answers. The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.