Morgan Hill Direction

By Steve Tate

Issues and priorities for the next few years.

Morgan Hill is a great community with a superior quality of life and many beneficial public facilities. People like living here and appreciate the positive direction in which the city is moving. We have very positive momentum to help carry us forward, momentum we will maintain by focusing on four areas:

• Fiscal Discipline
• Priority of Safety
• Community Values
• Leadership

We must adhere to the Sustainable Budget Strategy and plan carefully any service expansions or new projects and activities to assure that their impact on the general fund is affordable and sustainable. We need to stick firmly to our policies through the ongoing economic recovery.

Responsible, well-planned economic development can help build city revenues, allowing for restoration/ expansion of services. We need to continue attracting and retaining businesses that will help Morgan Hill thrive economically while being great community assets. Our local businesses enjoy and appreciate Morgan Hill; they love being here. We are using their support and enthusiasm to tell the story of why Morgan Hill is a great place to do business.

Priority of Safety We always emphasize the importance of public safety; it is fundamental protection that our local city government must adequately provide. Public safety is simply the highest priority of local government.

In this year's budget, we were able to add two sworn police officers and to expand our participation on regional policing efforts significantly, which pays dividends for our local law enforcement efforts.

During the recession when we had to scale back on police staffing, we implemented an effort to focus on safety outcomes and adopted an outcome-based strategy that is producing effective ways to achieve positive results. The intense focus on positive outcomes is enabling us to increase citizen safety. Our VIPs (Volunteers in Policing) are paying dividends in freeing up sworn officer time. We are extremely proud of the outstanding service our police staff and our volunteers provide.

We have been working for several years on a plan to cut cost for our fire and emergency medical services without sacrificing anything in terms of service level or quality. In January, 2013, we reestablished the Morgan Hill Fire Department and a cost-saving staffing contract with Cal Fire. That contract is saving about $800,000 per year, and it gives us a single service provider since we always relied on Cal Fire to provide mutual aid in southern Morgan Hill.

Public safety remains at the top of our priority list + right where it belongs.

Community Values Residents boast about the special feeling our community embodies, our "friendly small town feel". They truly like living here. The value that our residents place on our quality of life is something that we need to strongly embrace and maintain.

Residents willingly and eagerly volunteer to support our schools, youth recreation and sports, community-based non-profit organizations, city commissions and committees, and our terrific events like the Fourth of July and Taste of Morgan Hill. We get things done.

Downtown is a big part of our "small town feel" and we need to continue to strongly support its economic success and its vibrancy as a special place in our community. Implementation of the Downtown Specific Plan is under way with the parking garage and other enhancements, and the release of the RFQ/RFP for the purchase/development of four key downtown "catalyst" locations. Our vision of downtown as a spectacular gathering place and residential hub is on its way to being realized!

We need to also continue to emphasize providing opportunities for ouryouth so they can flourish and develop positive qualities and values for success. Support for our seniors is also important, acknowledging the great contributions they have made. The youth and senior components of the Centennial Recreation Center are flourishing with lots of happy smiling participants.

Recreation plays a big role in our community. We are pleased that so many of our youth are involved in sports and we have an active adult population as well. The M.H. Aquatics Center, Centennial Recreation Center and Outdoor Recreation Center are thriving, serving our citizens while also drawing regional participation, helping the economy and building our reputation for providing great recreational venues.

Through our competitive process for housing allocations, Morgan Hill has done an admirable job of providing affordable housing opportunities. With the loss of our redevelopment agency, it is very important to continue to focus on and to innovate in the area of housing affordability so that those wanting to live here can obtain housing here.

Environmental awareness and support for any initiatives that will protect our precious environment are important. Morgan Hill adopted a comprehensive environmental strategy in 2007 and has implemented strategic programs with enthusiastic help and support from our residents. Our strong citizen commitment and involvement will allow us to continue to pursue our environmental goals. Solar installations at city facilities and the conversion of all street lights to LED technology are recent accomplishments. Residents are also doing a great job of water conservation during the ongoing drought.

Leadership The Morgan Hill City Council is courteous and respectful, and we adhere to our values-based ethics policy that I am proud to have helped develop. In my eight years of leadership, we have raised the level of collaboration, efficiency and policy-making productivity. That focus will continue, further improving Council and commission/committee operations in meetings, assignments, and interactions to better meet objectives. We will continue working to assure council, staff, commissions/committees and the public are on the same page in terms of the City's goals, objectives, priorities and responsibilities.

We have also enhanced our regional participation and leadership, giving us a stronger voice and greater influence in the growing regional policy-making arena.

A goal of the underway General Plan update is to maintain growth control while eliminating many of the encumbrances, restrictions and complexities of the current ordinance. It is a priority to simplify how growth control is implemented and remove the limitations that the current system has saddled us with.

Leadership will be essential in achieving our goals for establishing a greenbelt and maintaining as much agriculture as possible in the southeast area east of 101, south of San Pedro. We want to enable the Catholic High School to be built and bring many more recreational, sporting and leisure time activities to the area, maximizing open space. Our collaborative work with other agencies that influence land use in that County-controlled area will lead us to an optimal solution.

Morgan Hill + a safe community with a thriving downtown, engaged/ involved citizens and leading schools. It has a small town, neighborly atmosphere while being a recreation mecca for our citizens and draws many visitors. It has well-maintained infrastructure (roads, parks, sewer, water, etc.). The growing number and variety of businesses give it a strong, growing economic base that maintains a solid financial footing allowing the City to provide expanded services, improving its already outstanding quality of life.