Paso Robles mayoral candidates participated in a forum at the Paso Robles Elks Lodge Thursday night. They answered questions about several topics voters are interested in, including the city’s budget, water supply, and current road conditions.
Jim Reed has served on the Paso Robles City Council for the past four years. He’s challenging current Paso Robles Mayor Steve Martin, who has also been in the position for four years.
“I just feel that I still have a whole lot more to offer the city. I’ve still got some fight left in me. I’ve still got some kick left in me, and I still have some good ideas that I’d like to see come to fruition. I believe that from the mayor’s standpoint, I would have more success, more luck, and a little better view on how things work, and I think I’d be able to accomplish more of these things for the city than I can from the City Council seat,” said Reed.
Martin says he is focused on public safety, economic development, and expanding the city’s job base. He talked about his time as mayor so far, as well as what he hopes to achieve if reelected.
“Some of the things I’ve accomplished are multiple water sources to serve our needs to build up. We’ve also streamlined our building permit process to make it easier to get through City Hall. We’ve worked on ways to make affordable housing, and we’ve worked on financial budgets that have provided a fiscally responsible city with healthy reserves,” said Martin. “The future of Paso Robles holds some wonderful things. With your permission, we’re going to accelerate the rate of repairs to our streets next year and over the next four years. We’re going to do economic development with our new partners in the Chamber and our Economic Development Director and our new airport commission to create new and better high-paying jobs in Paso Robles.”
Both Reed and Martin said Paso Robles has achieved a lot when it comes to finding new water sources and conserving water. They also talked about the city’s budget and economy.
“I see the biggest problem for the city would be managing the growth. We’ve got a lot of growth coming. People are concerned about it. The roads are congested already. We need to really be looking at how we are going to manage this future growth,” said Reed.
“The reputation of Paso Robles will continue to grow worldwide as a place where people come and visit and spend their money and help us economically,” said Martin.
Four candidates for Paso Robles City Council also participated in Thursday’s forum. The candidates for City Council are Maria Garcia, John Hamon, Andy Pekema, and Michael Rivera.
The General Election will be held on Tuesday, November 6.
