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Paso Robles needs new beginning

March 26, 2012

Gary Nemeth

OPINION By GARY NEMETH

I’m Gary Nemeth,  running for Mayor of Paso Robles because I believe in accountability, integrity, honesty, and trust you the community deserve to expect no less than the best in the leader you hire to represent you.

The voters of Paso will be the real triers of fact in how you want the future of our city to progress.

Our city just paid out $250,000 for an early retirement to Chief Solomon.  If you are not satisfied with the status quo, you the individual voter do possess the power to make the changes necessary.

As mayor I would start by changing the city manager and city attorney as I have lost trust and confidence in them both.

At a council workshop on March 24, Mayor Duane Picanco said we needed a special tax to fund programs requiring a two thirds vote, because community members he has spoken to said they did not trust this council if they voted for a general tax. Councilman Nick Gilman said he has heard the same thing. The Council voted to bring back the language for the special ballot vote in November.

One step at a time, one person can make a difference; don’t let others tell you it can’t be done.

CalCoastNews invites those who agree, or would like to rebut this opinion, or write on a topic of interest to send an email to velie@calcoastnews.com. Please include your opinion, full name, phone number and a photo if you have one available.


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pave 12th gary


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Becarful if old Bob “Swamp Gas”Cuddy indorses you!


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Dear Gary


Don’t think your chances are great, too much Mike Bremler like behavior.


Sorry in advance


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Mr. Nemeth,

Good luck mixing politics with integrity. Here’s your first political homework assignment:


Today, March 27th, the County Board of Supervisors met to discuss item 17 on today’s agenda–THE GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN. The Board of Supervisors were asked to approve the County’s Groundwater Management Plan and they were asked to approve the creation of a “steering committee” who apparently will be “networking with the stakeholders” who get their water from the “Paso Robles groundwater basin.”


Only problem with the meeting today was the fact that the pdf document associated with the agenda item–for instance, the Groundwater Plan itself, and any supporting documents which would identify who will comprise the “steering committee” and what it is, exactly, that they will do, and what authority they will have–was not viewable, downloadable, or readable, due to some problem with the County Supervisor’s “new and improved Web site.”


Thus, the resulting Brown Act violation makes any decision made at the meeting VOID.


Your mission, should you decided to accept it, is to see how far your “integrity” will go to convincing the Board of Supervisors to promptly rescind their votes on these issues and to hold off making ANY DECISION until the County’s IT discovers what it is that made so Julie Rodewald herself was unable to get the documents to download as of 2PM on the day of the meeting.


Good luck. If you get thrown out of the Board of Supervisor’s Office after lodging your protest, we will disavow any knowledge of your existence at the polls come November.

Signed,

Your Employer–the Public…..


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Good lord, Oto. I know not all people affiliated with the county are like sociopathic children, but the board of supervisors certainly give that impression.


Why would they even bother voting, when the documents weren’t available within the requirements of the Brown Act, unless the documents were PURPOSELY not available so as to stop any real discussion and questions from the public?


It must be exhausting to try to keep up with their BS.


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To Apathywillkillyou — A bit more interesting trivia for you, Gary Nemeth lost to Duane Picanco by 1,456 votes in the 2010 election for Mayor. Picanco got approx. 48% , Nemeth got approx.27%. This

happened during the Nacimiento pipeline Project fiasco along with increased high water rate fees when

Duane Picanco was Mayor. It will be interesting to see if the citizens of Paso Robles finally take appropriate action this time with our sniffy City officials. The citizens of Paso Robles need a big

change in our local government this time come November. Especially,with the latest fiasco involving our Police Chief.


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Gary only lost in 2010 because Mike Gibson ran also. Gary would never have run if Mike had indicated it earlier. They basically killed each other and awarded the Mayor position to the goofball Picanco.


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A bit of interesting trivia….


Gary Nemeth lost the Paso Robles Mayor race to Duane Picano back in 2008 by a mere 41 votes!


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Ouch. Incentive for Paso folks to work to get out the vote for the next election.


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I know Gary and I believe that he will make the necessary changes if elected mayor. If he is hamstrung by an uncooperative council, he will make enough noise to shake them loose to do the right thing.

To make sure changes are made, and App is shown the door, elect different citizens to the council.


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It isn’t enough to be just “for the people.” He has to be willing to speak out against the other council members, when necessary.


It is the good-ol’-boys-club atmosphere that allows such corruption to continue, and so much damage to occur to our cities.


Just ONCE I’d like to hear a city council member, during open session, turn to another council member and say “that is utter bullshit, I won’t stand for it, and the people won’t stand for it.”


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You’ve got my vote, Gary!


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I would think that the voting public is aware that each council member has one vote. The mayor is the spokesperson for the city and he oversees the CC meetings as he is the one with the gavel. The mayor will often sit on various other boards but not necessarily. Mr Nemeth is simply stating how he would vote but no, of course he can’t do it alone. Paso Robles requires two more candidates with the same mindset to replace App and Yang that Mr Nemeth has voiced in order to effect change.


Citizens of Paso Robles, stand up and offer your service to your city, run for City Council. I nominate long time business owner Karen Daniels.


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I agree, Cindy.


The city council seems devoid of any willingness to act for the benefit of the people of PR. I think a majority of council members who are willing, and able, to stand up against city manager App.


App needs to have a short leash on him until the new majority can bring in outside legal counsel (in other words, not Yang and not Jon Seitz, who have both allowed this disaster to happen) to advise them on how to terminate App in the best (for the city residents) way.


Karen Daniels is a great choice for city council. I just wonder if the amount of hours it will take to get PR back on track would be possible with her business.


One other issue….if three council members appear to be likely voted out, that will create a council majority void which will attract both good and bad.


The reaction of voters to decades of poor city management and city council representation can be to vote council members out, and then look to anyone who rides in to the race on a white horse, wearing a white hat, as the person to vote for.


The candidates who are attracted to that potential majority void will need to be closely vetted before the election, and the voters informed.


It would do the city residents no good to get the same kind of city council representation they have now–or WORSE representation.


The new group formed is the best thing that could happen for Paso Robles, and it couldn’t happen at a better time. I don’t live in Paso Robles, but I will volunteer, as needed.


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Fear not, there will be White Knights coming forth. Currently, I suspect that those who are considering stepping up are waiting to see who else comes forward. As the filing deadline begins to approach, we will see Candidates stepping forward, some will step forward simply because they will feel that they haven’t seen anyone else come forward and they will offer to do it because someone has to do it. Eventually some Candidates will drop out as they see others come forward that they have confidence in. I don’t think Paso Robles will be void of viable Candidates comes election time.


I agree that Mr Gary Nemeth is an excellent Candidate for Mayor, also he has experience which is important as the other two Candidates most likely will be inexperienced and will have a learning curve to overcome. An experienced “local gov” candidate for Mayor is a must and Mr Nemeth is most likely the obvious choice in my opinion. I should add that it isn’t uncommon to see a Candidate lose an election the first time they run and win the second time. Mr. Nemeth is primed to win in his second run.


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Nothing against Mr Nemeth, but you should asure the voters that as mayor you have the final say into hiring the city manager and attorney and not just a single vote of all the council members. Should you be elected mayor but none of the other seats up for election change hands and if it takes a majority of votes it would seem the city manager would stay the same. The current council appears fine with what is going on in Paso right now so likey would not the city manager or attorney.


I think it is dishonest when a person running for office states everything they are going to do when elected but when you dig into what the office holder can and can’t do you find out they really can make the changes they claim without the co-operation of others and then when things do not change they blame it on the someone else.


I’m only saying this because I do not really know what powers the mayior has and doesn’t have.


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Technically, the mayor has more privileges than other council members, and sometimes those privileges translate into more power. If the mayor has one goal, and the majority has a different goal, then the majority will win the vote.


I don’t know the individual members of the current city council. They are either just going along with whatever city management tells them to do, or they are actually what they planned to do, anyway, and it just happens to be the same thing city management wants to do. From some of the interaction, especially emails, it appears that App tells the city council what to do.


At any rate, the current city council members are not acting in the best interests of the people of Paso Robles, and have actually allowed harm come to the city under their watch.


I am not familiar with Mr. Nemeth, so I can’t say if Mr. Nemeth would be any better. Hopefully, he will be one of a good, solid batch of candidates that city voters can vet and then, for the ones who pass muster, vote into office.


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