GALT, CA (MPG) - The Galt City Council candidates spoke with city residents about their goals should they be elected, during an Oct. 23 town hall. Hosted by Galt District Chamber of Commerce at Back Alley Brewhouse, the three campaigners addressed topics from homelessness to government transparency and Galt’s community identity. Election Day is Nov. 5.

The City Council hopefuls are Tim Reed, Mathew Pratton and Bonnie Rodriguez. Two seats are open. During the forum, audience members came forward with questions and the candidates took turns responding.

Homelessness

Answering what he would do about homelessness, Reed, who is Disaster Services Medical Division chief for the California Emergency Medical Services Authority, referred to his experience as a paramedic. Reed said he transported homeless people to the hospital every day.

“A majority of your homeless population want to be homeless. They don’t want to be part of society,” Reed said, continuing, “The thing that we’ve got to do is to initially address the ones that want help. There are a percentage out there that are just homeless because stuff happens.”

He said the city needs to connect homeless people with services available through Sacramento County.

Pratton said Galt “doesn’t have as big a problem as some of the other communities because we’re smaller,” adding that many of the city’s homeless residents have local connections.

“I know the council that’s in there now, and I believe the next council, will continue to focus on this issue. And if we focus on the issue, I think we’ll make it better. Can we eliminate it? I doubt it. But if it’s criminal activity, we need to make sure we make the phone calls and push the issues and hopefully get them the resources they need,” Pratton said.

Said Rodriguez, noting complaints from business owners and from homeowners near Dry Creek and the county line, “I don’t have a quick answer.”

“I think, as a community, there are some creative things that are out there,” Rodriguez said, “and instead of what’s been happening on Facebook and social media, people are getting almost (vigilante justice), instead of that, we might need to look at some creative ideas where maybe the business owners and other volunteers, we make relationships with these homeless.”

Rodriguez suggested creating agreements where homeless people are allowed space at night with nondisruptive behavior and are expected to “clear the way” during the day.

Transparency

Asked how to make Galt government more transparent, Rodriguez said the current City Council and city leadership are “so much better” on transparency than their predecessors.

As a point of improvement, Rodriguez highlighted the relationship of City Council with the city’s commissions and committees. Rodriguez serves on the Planning Commission.

“I want to make sure that those citizens who are serving on these commissions are able and feel like they can come to council anytime and say, ‘Here’s an issue that we just saw before us. Here’s our recommendation’ or ‘Here’s my concern’ and it shouldn’t have to be filtered through staff,” Rodriguez said.

Pratton, a former Planning Commissioner, promised to improve his own transparency. Pratton said he comes to public meetings having already thought the items through and hasn’t “always been the best at communicating out to the public.”

Pratton said many Galt residents don’t know about major city decisions until they are implemented, pointing to complaints over road closures for the C Street Enhancements Project.

“I feel that is my job, the transparency piece. I’ve always pushed it,” Pratton said. “Absolutely, not just at my level but the directors and everybody else do need to get more communication and that’s always an issue.”

Reed, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, said he gives City Council regular updates on the committee’s actions. For more transparency, Reed highlighted the city’s finances.

“We’ve got to figure out the transparency for the money because I’ve had a lot of people come to me and go, ‘Well, I can’t really figure out where this money’s going,’” Reed said.

The city’s budget documents need to be structured so regular Galt residents can understand where the city’s money comes from and how it is being spent, Reed said.

Galt’s Identity

A forum attendee recalled defunct festivals from Galt’s past, asking, “What are we going to do for an identity in Galt when there’s nothing here anymore for people to say, ‘That’s where I’m from’?”

Rodriguez said the chamber and City Council have been trying to address that question.

“This is something that needs to be answered because we do need to have an identity,” Rodriguez said, continuing that several festivals stopped because they were expensive to run and had difficulty finding volunteers.

“We need to engage our community so we can have more,” Rodriguez said. She cited the chamber’s Old Galt Festival as an example of progress.

Reed agreed with Rodriguez’s assessment, comparing the city to a teenager figuring out who they are. Reed called for collaboration between City Council, city commissions, the chamber and community organizations.

“We all come together to figure out what do we want Galt to be,” Reed said. “And it’s going to take everybody to come together. It’s going to take a group effort, so we’ve got to figure out how to get those types of groups together. And maybe it is another committee that we form to try to figure this out.”

Galt’s identity “continually changes and it’s an issue,” Pratton said. Pratton said volunteers have become harder to find as the city grows and private businesses are taking a larger role.

“It is one of the pluses of growing, is hopefully we can have more things available and more things going on. To me the identity … it’s turning more toward this business, Back Alley Brewhouse, and the events that they put on, so a lot of our newer businesses have been very active,” Pratton said.