On December 16, 2016, the Visalia City Council held a special meeting at which we said goodbye to council member Amy Shuklian, and welcomed new council member Phil Cox. The council was then reorganized whereby I was appointed mayor, and veteran council member Bob Link was appointed vice-mayor. Bob and I look forward to serving for the next two years in these positions. I am frequently asked how the mayor and vice-mayor are selected, so let me explain.
Visalia previously elected its five council members citywide for four-year terms, but beginning in November 2016, council members are elected by district. Two council member positions were on the ballot in 2016, the other three positions will be on the 2018 ballot and voting will continue accordingly. After each such election, the council meets to swear in the newly elected. The five council members then take nominations for mayor and vice-mayor from amongst themselves, and then vote on the same.
Certain issues that I would like to emphasize in the next two years include:
∙ Reevaluating our work with the homeless, to build on our successes and to see how we can better partner with non-profits, churches, the county and other local cities to address this need. In particular, I'd like to add a work component to our outreach whereby we give opportunities to the homeless to give service back in return for what they receive, thus assisting them to be responsible for themselves, to become employable again, and to eventually afford housing.
∙ A delegation just returned from visiting our sister city in Miki Japan in November 2016. Visalia will be dedicating our Miki City Park in April 2017. I'd like to continue to work on strengthening our ties with our sister cities in Japan and Italy.
∙ Visalia has not held a Fourth of July fireworks celebration the last two years. I look forward to the city partnering with a service club(s) to reinstate such celebration on July 4, 2017. This will hopefully cut down on the 50-60 citations issued last Fourth of July, when we also had five fires attributable to fireworks over the Independence Day weekend.
∙ We thank local citizens for recently passing Measure N, and the council looks forward to using these new sales tax revenues as promised, to strengthen public safety, for road improvements, and for parks and recreation.
∙ I'd like to reinstate the mayor's dinner whereby we honor past mayors and councilmembers for their service to the community. Additionally, I will hold monthly "meet the mayor" office hours at City Hall so that citizens can meet with me to express their ideas and concerns.
Of course, the foregoing are just a few ideas and initiatives I'd like to push, on top of the ongoing day-to-day operations of our grand city.
Mayor Vollmer
Ed Vollmer served as mayor of Visalia from 1965-1973. He was a big man with a big personality, he loved his family and community. Ed was born April 15, 1923. His wife Betty was also born on April 15, and they were married on April 15. A great date for a CPA/tax advisor like Ed! Ed made many contributions to this community both as a mayor, family man and businessman. I consider him a mentor, and he was one of those that encouraged me to run for city council. On December 16, 2016, after the council meeting where I was appointed mayor, I dropped by the local hospital ICU to visit briefly with the Vollmer family. Ed passed away later that night at age 93. From Visalia's newest mayor to Visalia's oldest mayor, I will say that Ed will be greatly missed, and I express my personal as well as the city's condolences to the wonderful Vollmer family.
2017 Visalia Senior Games
Visalia is hosting its Second Senior Games, March 17-19 and March 24-26, 2017. Planning has been going on for months. This year we have added track and field, swimming, disc golf, race walk, and team mens soccer, men's softball, men's volleyball, women's soccer and women's volleyball. We encourage everyone 50 and over to start getting in shape, and to participate. Registration is now open, and can be done online at www.visaliaseniorgames.com. Or go to the same website to volunteer. As before, we will have an opening ceremony event but this time Downtown, a Friday night social and lots of other fun activities. We thank the Visalia Parks and Recreation Department and all of our sponsors and volunteers, and look forward to these games being even bigger and better than our inaugural event.
If you have questions or topics regarding the city which you would like to have addressed in future articles, please email Warren at warren.gubler@visalia.city. For past articles, visit directfromwarren.blogspot.com.
