Folsom Local News To Question Council Candidates

In November this year, two spots on the Folsom City Council are open, positions currently held by Mayor Eric King and Councillor Jeff Starksy.

Starsky seeks re-election, while King is retiring.

Candidates for these two positions are incumbent Jeff Starsky, John Arnaz, Michael Gordon, Ernie Sheldon, and Rosemary Younts.

The City Council is made up of five seats, Mayor and four councillors. The three seats not up for election until November 2010 are held by Kerri Howell, Vice Mayor Steve Miklos and Andy Morin.

The City Clerk Elections Page contains additional information about the five candidates.

Folsom Local News sent a letter to all five candidates, requesting that they answer some questions, to help voters understand their candidacy. Over the next month, we will publish their responses to the questions and if we can schedule it, there will be a short video where they speak to us.

FolsomLocalNews readers are invited to participate and this will help candidates get their messages out and at the same time, allow readers to ask questions. We may not be able to ask all the questions we want, but we can try. Remember that it takes time to answer all the questions as well as all the other things they have to do at this busy time.

I hope to send them two or three sets of questions over the next few weeks.

The first set of questions, requesting an overview on 12 basic quesions went out last week. I asked for a paragraph or two on each one. We’re not looking for the candidates to resolve all the issues in our story, we just want to give readers an overview.

This may be easier said than done, because they may wish to give some background, to explain how they came to a particular position or idea. Please remember, I asked them for a quick overview so don’t compare them harshly if some answer in depth while others don’t.

One set of questions will require more detail, possibly asking for their philosophy on just one or two issues.

One set of questions will cover things that you and other readers believe are important, so please email your questions to [email protected]

I also plan to use my video news camera to record a short interview with each candidate, if we can get it scheduled in the last week of September.

FolsomLocalNews is not out to trick or trap candidates or to dig up dirt. These are “Meet the Candidate” stories. All candidates have the same questions, except when we get into specifics.

Here are the questions:

  • How long have you lived in the Folsom Area?
  • How are you involved in the Folsom community?
  • Why are you running for council?
  • What qualifies you to run for this office?
  • How will Folsom benefit if you are elected?
  • What are the major issues facing Folsom over the next four years?
  • What issues need to be addressed immediately?
  • Where do you stand on expansion south of Highway 50?
  • What is your opinon of infill?
  • What is your opinon of commercial development?
  • What is your opinon of low income housing?
  • Are there underserved areas in Folsom that need attention?

    Responses

    Responses will be published as they are received.

  • Alan Gray is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of NewsBlaze Daily News and other online newspapers. He prefers to edit, rather than write, but sometimes an issue rears it’s head and makes him start hammering away on the keyboard.

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    Alan is also a techie. His father was a British soldier in the 4th Indian Division in WWII, with Sikhs and Gurkhas. He was a sergeant in signals and after that, he was a printer who typeset magazines and books on his linotype machine. Those skills were passed on to Alan and his brothers, who all worked for Telecom Australia, on more advanced signals (communications). After studying electronics, communications, and computing at college, and building and repairing all kinds of electronics, Alan switched to programming and team building and management.

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