KNOW YOUR CANDIDATE: Lorri Pride, Willows City Council candidate

WILLOWS, Calif. — To help voters prepare for the November election KRCR sent a survey to candidates for public office. KRCR used email addresses provided by election officials on the list of certified candidates. The same 15 questions were sent to all the candidates.

1.What are three things you want voters to know about you?

a.I am a lifelong resident of Glenn County, attended schools in Willows and have made my home in Willows.

b.I previously served on the Willows City Council in the late 1990s, serving one year as the mayor.

c.My prior work experience has been with the federal government, county government, a school district, an economic development non-profit and currently running my own real estate business. These experiences have provided me with the ability to see situations and issues from different perspectives.

2.What inspired you to run for public office?

I want to work on better communications and information sharing between the residents of the city and the council/city staff. We all need to do a better job of respecting and listening to one another. Getting more input from the public, and sharing more information about current issues is really important and critical to making good decisions for the city.

3.What about your background makes you the best candidate for the job?

I have lived and worked in this community for many years, and have experience serving on the City Council. There is quite a lot to learn as one takes on the position, and prior experience can shorten the learning curve.

4.What are your top three priorities if elected?

The city is incredibly short-staffed and has been for quite some time. I want to focus on getting positions filled so that services can be provided to the public in an efficient and effective way. Our recreation program, and specifically our city pool, must be made a priority. We also need to look at our permitting processes and streamline those as much as possible.

5.How do you plan to accomplish this?

Because our management-level staff positions have been vacant or contracted out, the council members need to be more actively engaged in setting priorities and ensuring that existing staff have the support that they need. Fortunately, our budget is in good shape this year, so we are able to continue moving forward. Seeking grant funding and looking at other financing sources for recreation will be critical to success.

6.What are the biggest challenges people are facing right now?

The increase in cost of living across the board has been a huge impact. Lack of housing is another. We need more jobs in the area, but don’t have the housing inventory to support that. Wages are not keeping up with the cost to live in our local area.

7.What steps can you take to address these challenges if elected?

Working with partners such as C.H.I.P, Habitat for Humanity and others on affordable housing projects, while continuing the work on economic development marketing materials and infrastructure improvements to bring new business to the community.

8.Given the divided nature of politics how do you plan to bring people together to accomplish your goals?

Making use of forums such as town hall meetings to promote dialogue about our local issues and get more input from the public.

9.What is the biggest misconception about you?

I have been labeled by some as being part of the “status quo”. I do want our community to grow, in fact, I believe it has to in order to not only survive but thrive. There are many challenges to face such as housing and job growth, and if we work together as a community I really think it will happen.

10.What is a challenge you’ve faced that has helped to prepare you for public office?

I can’t think of a specific challenge, however, I have learned that I can’t take what people might say about me, or the decisions I make, too personally. Most people who make comments have not taken the time to get to know me or ask me what I think about a topic. I can’t change other people, however, I can choose to listen to everyone with respect and seek to understand their perspectives on a topic. At the end of the day, the decisions that I make will be the ones that I feel are best for the community overall.

11.Homelessness is a major concern for the community, what do you think needs to be done to address it?

It needs to be addressed as soon as possible and it is not a “one size fits all” solution. There need to be assessments of, and services provided for, those who are homeless. We need to work at many levels to make this happen; city, county, medical, counseling services, non-profits.

12.Jail staffing levels have become an increasing concern with many sheriff’s departments struggling to maintain operations at the necessary levels. What can be done to encourage people to take on public safety jobs and to keep qualified employees?

The City of Willows has contracted law enforcement with the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office. I know that recruitment and retention have been a huge issue locally. The ability to provide wages high enough to keep employees from moving to larger jurisdictions is one of the challenges.

13.Fentanyl and substance abuse are growing issues in the community and can lead to other public safety concerns. What can the government do to address this?

This is not an area that I have much familiarity with, particularly in regard to possible solutions. I do know that educating the public and providing training and resources to emergency first responders to keep them safe is extremely important.

14.Do you think there is enough affordable housing available?

There is most definitely not enough affordable housing in this region.

15.What is one thing the state government could do to help rural communities facing drought?

Actually build large, surface water storage facilities in the State, such as the Sites Reservoir. The Dept of Water Resources is providing funding assistance to Glenn County to provide water to homes that have experienced dry wells. There are well over 200 homes in Glenn County that are currently on this program. This doesn’t fix the problem, but at least alleviates the symptom of the problem for a period of time.

If constituents would like to contact Lorri Pride her email is pride@rpm4you.com.

If you are a candidate for public office on the November ballot and would like to be included in the survey please email the editorial team.