Grover Beach candidates discuss infrastructure needs, public comment 

During a Sept. 17 candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of San Luis Obispo County, Grover Beach City Council candidates told residents how they would raise money to fix streets and fund infrastructure projects.

But a big topic of discussion was how candidates would ensure that citizens feel heard if they were elected, since the current council recently moved public comment for items not on the agenda to the end of council meetings.

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• Photo By Samantha Herrera
• OUR VALUES Grover Beach candidates discuss why they are running and what changes they would like to bring to the city during a recent forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of SLO County.

Kathy McCorry, who's running against Marsha Boylanatz for the 3rd District seat current Councilmember Zach Zimmerman is vacating, said that if she becomes a council member, she would work on improving alternative ways and new opportunities for residents to reach the city.

"I believe that the residents should be able to reach City Council by writing, by phoning in, by calling in. I think all of those options need to be improved upon, and I think we can make it easier for people to communicate with the council," she said. "They shouldn't always have to come to City Council during a certain time to be able to ask a question. There should be a way that you can write it down and send it in and send it to our city staff so that they can bring it to our attention, but I do think we need to look for more opportunities and different ways to communicate."

Bolyanatz, a member of local activist group Grover H2O, said she will work on moving that public comment period back to the beginning of meetings because she doesn't believe in making people wait to have their voices heard.

"I think everybody has the right, every constituent has the right to be heard at a reasonable time," she said. "The other thing is that we've had some issues, electronic issues, with people wanting to call in who were never recognized during meetings, and I think we should make that a priority with it. If people can't make the meeting to give their thoughts and their comments, then they call in, and I don't think that has been promoted as much as it should."

One community member asked candidates about Measure G-24, the initiative to repeal water and wastewater rates. They wondered how the city would be able to maintain future maintenance and infrastructure projects.

McCorry said while she "doesn't have a crystal ball that's going to answer that particular question," she does anticipate having to do some budgeting.

"It'll probably come with some pain. What the community wants to wait on, how long we can sustain our current infrastructure, those questions will have to be asked and answered," she said. "I have faith that we will do it. The City Council will listen to what everybody wants."

Bolyanatz said she would advocate for using the funds the city already has available to prioritize fixing structures that need crucial repairs first.

"I'm recalling how we promoted [Measure] K-14 and the way K-14 worked for repairing the roads was the City Council at the time ... went ahead and prioritized and fixed those streets that weren't as critical and as dangerous as the ones that were the ones that were really needing repairs," she said. "Also, I would say go ahead and use the funds that we would have available from budgeting to go and fix the water issue there and the necessary repairs ... that are more critical than others."

Current Councilmember Clint Weirick is running for the 4th District seat, but he's unopposed and didn't join the panel to answer questions. To learn more about the mayoral race, read "Division and change" on page 8. Δ