Council election: Holly Blair has a strong desire to serve her community

By Ed Martin, Editor
Council Candidate Holly Blair
Council Candidate Holly Blair

In an effort to inform the voters of Lemoore, The Leader has asked that the seven candidates running for three spots on the Lemoore City Council, to the best of their ability, answer a series of questions we feel are important and need to be answered – and discussed by Lemoore’s residents.

We also asked each candidate to provide background information as well. The candidates running for the Lemoore City Council are incumbent Eddie Neal, former Lemoore Recreation Director Joe Simonson, longtime Lemoore resident Ray Etchegoin, local educator Holly Blair, Navy Veteran Beverly Halliman, former City of Lemoore Planning Commissioner Dave Brown, and Kings County Administrative Assistant Angela Valenzuela.

Holly Blair

Holly Blair is a fourth generation Kings County resident, born in Hanford and raised in Avenal. Following her graduation from Avenal High School, Blair went on to West Hills College where she earned an AA degree and then enrolled at Fresno State where she earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in English before arriving in Lemoore, where she lives with spouse Paul and their five children: Wesley, Christian, Ava, Seanpeter, and Mia.

She currently teaches fourth grade at Lemoore’s Mary Immaculate Queen School and is an adjunct English instructor at West Hills College Lemoore.

She is heavily involved in the community as president of the Lemoore American Legion Auxiliary (Unit 100), secretary of the Lemoore Lions Club, and a member of the Lemoore Kiwanis Club. She also volunteers weekly at St. Peter’s Church in Lemoore where she has served as the bulletin editor for several years.

She is the immediate past chair of the Meadow Lane Elementary School Site Council and member of the elementary district’s Parent Advisory Council, and as a life-long resident of this county, she says she feels a deep connection to the community. She was raised here and is raising a family here. She looks forward to working to promote Lemoore’s future and create jobs for the next generation. A priority is to work with vocational programs and apprenticeships to bring next-generation jobs to Lemoore. She said that leaders are needed with a clear vision for the future, and with the technological savvy to pursue those type of business opportunities for Lemoore. Blair also has webpage at hollyandradeblair.com and a Facebook page.

She is a strong believer in volunteering, and says she proudly serves with the Lemoore Lions Club in service activities and hopes to lend a public platform for service organizations underscoring the importance of community service. Beyond this, she also volunteers for veterans, and if elected, will make veterans outreach and improvements to the city’s Veterans Memorial Building a top priority.

What or who motivated you to run for a seat on the Lemoore City Council?

I am young, energetic, and deeply passionate about the issues that face our community. I have a sincere heart to serve our community in any way possible. I am running because I care. It’s as simple as that.

What, in your opinion, is the most important issue facing Lemoore today?

Many residents in our community live paycheck to paycheck, with some residents taking up two, maybe even three jobs, just to make ends meet. We desperately need new industry to come into this city and offer new jobs and new opportunities to the residents of our community.

While I appreciate the small town feel of Lemoore, I definitely see an opportunity for growth. We are situated perfectly between two major freeways (198 and 41). We are in an ideal situation to become the premier “hub of activity” in the Central Valley. I have a clear vision for the future of our city and it starts with new job growth. I see opportunities for new jobs to come to the area in a few ways.

First, I see more job opportunity in vocational education and employment. I would like to work with local colleges and building trade organizations to bring vocational training opportunities to the residents of Lemoore. I have already made connections with the leaders of several organizations that are interested in partnering with Lemoore in offering apprenticeship opportunities in carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, nursing, and truck driving to residents of Lemoore. I’d like to pursue these connections and work with other leaders in our community to bring these programs to Lemoore.

I also see a continued, strong relationship with the Lemoore Naval Air Station as well. With the addition of the F-35C Joint Fighter aircraft, it is important to work with the base in attracting Navy personnel to shop and enjoy recreational activity in the city. I also want to work with veterans’ organizations in the area, to offer additional job training opportunities wherever possible.

In your opinion, is Lemoore in a positive place right now, or are there issues that need to be addressed that may or may not have an effect on the future of this city.

There are always issues to be addressed and ways to improve upon things here in the city. Of course the decisions we make now will affect the future of the city.

What is the first thing you would seek to change, or improve upon, if elected?

The decision to eliminate the city’s planning department was a terrible mistake by our city council. I disagree with those on our council who decided to dissolve the planning department and cut ties with the Kings County Economic Development Corporation. We need both, industrial development and retail development, to ensure Lemoore’s economy grows. I will work with city planning and economic development teams; not turn them away. So, right away I would like to work on rebuilding those ties which we have recently broken. I’d also like to encourage more entrepreneurship by hosting workshops that go through the steps of setting up a business in town, explaining what resources are available in the city and answering any questions that come up. We can’t just sit and wait for businesses to come to us. We need to be actively involved in attracting and retaining new business owners.

There is a lot of misinformation out there, regarding what it meant to drop our planning department. First and foremost, it meant outsourcing the jobs from Lemoore and laying off local employees. Beyond that, our council claims to have a projected savings of $243,000 a year. However, if you take a look at the numbers, you quickly see that number has been artificially inflated by a smooth maneuvering in the books. First, we’re contracting out technical planning duties to the tune of $100,000 annually. Plus, we see that our public works director is now taking on the duties of overseeing the firm we are contracting work out to. His salary is being taken out of the public works fund (even though he is now being required to do basically the job of for public works and city planning). Combine this, with 30% of the project manager’s salary is being paid for out of the Public Works fund, instead of planning. Another part-time staffer is also helping out with city planning duties without their salary being counted as “planning.” We can shift the money around all we want, that doesn’t mean we’re not paying for it one way or another. My question is this: if we are so certain this idea was going to save the city so much money, why are going through such an effort to pass off city planning duties as public works? I want to open the books further and see numbers that more accurately reflect how our funds are being allocated.

How can Lemoore attract industrial and retail development? Identify, if you can, current efforts to attract retail, for example CrisCom and its contract with the city. Is this a good thing?

Again, the decision to eliminate the planning department was a terrible mistake by our city council. We can’t just sit and wait for businesses to come to us. We need to be actively involved in attracting and retaining new business owners. We need dedicated personnel who work on this each and every day.

Beyond this, the personnel working on business development for our community should, whenever possible, come from within our own community. I would not trust a stranger to watch over my home or my children, so why then, do we trust those who live nowhere near us to come in and advise us on the needs of those who actually do live here? Have you gone to the CrisCom website? It looks like every other generic self-help site out there, with words like “innovative” and “dynamic.” Try to find a way to reach a person to contact. You can try the pre-populated form and wait for an impersonal email. While you wait, you can check out the headshots of some CEOs that I’m not sure have ever set foot in our city, much less care about the traditions of our community.

I want to see local control and local accountability for our city’s planning needs; not an outside company that hires consultants who do not live anywhere near here, and who are not, in any way, vested in the community here. No one, I don’t care how much they are paid, will care about this city as much as the residents that actually live here do.

Do you feel Lemoore is a safe community? Why or why not?

It’s not about whether or not I feel like Lemoore is a safe community; it’s about the facts. The fact is, the crime rate here is still, statistically higher than the national average. And while our city’s fire department recently won an award for the consistently quick response times of our firefighters, the department still lacks appropriate resources for equipment and personnel needs.

There is a public safety measure on the ballot in November aimed at addressing these concerns, as well as others. While other candidates sit on their laurels and hope they can get away with not ever having to actually say where they stand on a controversial issue, I believe in saying what I support in a clear and concise manner. I am the only candidate to not only publicly endorse Measure K, but to regularly attend Measure K planning meetings, and to personally canvass for the measure on multiple occasions. I organized multiple walks with volunteers from the community and continue, even now, to advocate for the measure. Beyond this, multiple public safety officers have publicly endorsed my candidacy, including Sergeant Jim Chaney, who recently said that he believed that I had the right heart for the job.

Gang activity also continues to worry many in our community. Beyond policing activity, my goal if elected, is to go after some of the root causes of gang activity. Firstly, I suggest the city offer more vocational training opportunities and host job fairs throughout the year that encourage our youth to look for work instead of joining gangs. I would like to work with youth programs within the city, such as the Lemoore Leos Club and the Police Activity League, along with the city’s programs in the Parks and Recreation Department to promote service programs and after school sports or art programs to ensure our youth have something productive they can do when not in school.

What program or programs would you immediately seek to implement if elected?

It’s not so much a program, as it is a project, but I would like to immediately address the concerns our Veterans have with the Lemoore Veterans Memorial Building (aka Veterans Hall). I have noticed that the new fence in front of the hall was installed quickly, but with several flaws. The corners, that are supposed to be bolted into the cement, broke through the cement in the corners instead, causing cement to break away, leaving several areas unbolted. Moreover, the finials are supposed to be held on with a rivet, but some finials were not secured correctly, popping off with a little tug. That’s just the outside – there are many more little issues on the inside as well. This building is a memorial building, dedicated to those who have honorably served our country. It should be a source of pride for our community. Is this really the best we can do? I know we can do so much more. It starts with having a leader who will actually prioritize those issues and continue to voice the concerns of our veterans to see that those concerns are addressed.

Any final thoughts that may not have been asked, but that you feel is an important issue, program, or need?

An issue that I hear time and time again from our city’s residents is the need for more family-oriented entertainment options – especially indoor options. It is no secret that it can get incredibly hot here in the central valley, and the air quality here can vacillate between dirty, to downright dangerous, especially in the dry, summer months. I’d like assist the Lemoore Parks and Recreation Department in developing more indoor recreation programs and work with city employees in developing a plan, together, on how best to allocate the appropriate funding to see that a plan can be implemented.

 

 

 

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