Candidate for
Council Member; City of Bellflower

I was born and raised in Southern California, residing in Bellflower for most of my life. I come from a family of eight with four brothers and one sister, all of whom still live in the area. I met and married my wife Sandy in the late 1970's at the church that is still our home parish, St. Cyprian in Long Beach, where we remain active in various ministries to this day. Sandy and I raised our four children in Bellflower, and sent them to the local Catholic schools in Bellflower and Lakewood. Our Catholic Christian faith is extremely important to us.

When our children were younger we were very involved in their school activities, as well as their youth sports programs. I was a head coach, referee, and Board Member for AYSO soccer during a 12-year period and coached and umpired for Little League baseball and Bobby Sox softball as well. Although I have considered a run for City Council for over a decade, we decided that it was in the best interest of our family to wait until the kids were older, so this is my first attempt at public office. Sandy and I view service on the City Council as a natural next step to more than 30 years of community service that we have already given.

Combined with my educational background (two Associate Degrees, and a Bachelor's Degree from Cal State Long Beach), I have a good mix of professional experience that uniquely qualifies me to serve on the City Council. I began my career in Information Technology back in 1977 when it was still called "Data Processing". I joined my current employer, the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), in 1979. I began as a computer operator, spent about 18 years as a software designer and developer, and then moved into a management position about 10 years ago. I currently serve LACOE as the interim Assistant Director of Applications Development, and have technical responsibility for the county-wide payroll, financial, and teacher credential systems operated by the Office.

I will bring my skills as an experienced analyst and problem solver to the City Council. I also have training and experience as a project manager, so I know how to guide a project from start to finish. Since I am a 30-year employee of a public agency, I have a good understanding of how public organizations, like the City of Bellflower, differ from private companies. This includes knowledge of the budgeting process, which will be extremely helpful in the current budget crisis. I possess a wealth of experience in personnel matters, from recruitment and employee selection, to supervision of staff (I currently lead a department of 35), to employee evaluation and progressive discipline. I use a problem resolution technique that pulls all effected parties together to find solutions. The fact that I do not have any personal business interests in the City of Bellflower, and that I am running as a completely independent candidate, will allow me the freedom to weigh all possible remedies equally.

I'm compiling a list of issues and concerns from the citizens of Bellflower as I campaign throughout the various neighborhoods. Although the list is growing, it appears that the Top 3 issues that we are faced with is California's budget crisis, the situation with the recently purchased Peerless Water company, and the problems faced by building contractors and ordinary citizens when dealing with the city building department.

I believe that it is the primary responsibility of both the city council and the city staff to serve the citizens of Bellflower. Too often I see an adversarial relationship develop between the public and city officials. I will work to bring a collaborative approach to problem and issue resolution.