Lemoore Chamber hosts city council candidates in friendly forum at Tachi Hotel

On hand for the hour-long event was an incumbent Eddie Neal, and fellow candidates Dave Brown, Holly Blair, Ray Etchegoin, Joe Simonson and Angela Valenzuela. Also on the ballot is Beverly Halliman, but he decided to drop out of the race, though his name remains on the ballot.

Mayor Lois Wynne moderated the candidates' gathering Wednesday afternoon at the Tachi Hotel.

Moderator Mayor Wynne only had a few questions of the candidates, dealing with economic development to working with local non-profit groups.

As usual when you get a bunch of political aspirants in the room, the talk centers around a candidate’s priorities, particularly when it comes to attracting businesses and industry. Later during the discussion, Wynne also asked the candidates about their ideas for revitalizing the Lemoore downtown, and then finally getting their thoughts on local non-profit organizations.

Valenzuela, who works in the Kings County administration office said local, county and state officials need to better work together to attract local business in order stop what she referred to as “retail leakage,” an ongoing issue in Lemoore for decades. “We need revenue, period,” she said, adding that she’d work with local officials to get the ball rolling.

Simonson, who worked for the city as its Recreation Director before retiring earlier this year after being place on administrative leave, said the city needs to do away with what he called excessive fees and regulations. “We have to reduce regulations, and we have to reduce impact fees,” he said. “We’re going to have to take a few chances.”

Etchegoin joined the chorus, advocating for increased revenues “We have to make it easier for businesses,” he insisted, adding that in California it’s difficult to attract business and industry with “all the regulations we have.”

Blair, a local educator, said Lemoore’s young people are its best resource. “We have this great resource, our people,” she said. She challenged the crowd to “think outside the box” when it comes to economic development. “We need new ideas that align with the future.”

Brown, a former planning commissioner, added that we need to get “smarter” as the city attempts to improve its economic climate. “We need to get our minds together,” he said. “We just need to get tougher and think of smarter ways to do things.”

Neal, seeking his second term on the council insisted city officials need to work more closely with downtown business and organizations to improve the downtown business climate while Brown added that “we need to open the lines of communication to come up with solutions.”

Blair offered up ideas to bring more people downtown, particularly young people by advocating for access to internet Wi-Fi. She said we need to think of things that would draw people to the downtown.

Etchegoin suggested he may push for improved nightlife such as restaurants, movies and places for young people to visit. How many places are still open after 6 p.m. he asked?

Simonson said dying downtowns aren’t unique to Lemoore. “There isn’t really a good answer for this question,” he said, tossing in the idea that other towns like Lemoore experience economic development due to online sources like Amazon.

Finally, candidates were also asked about improving relationships with local non-profit organizations and all praised the various non-profits in Lemoore, citing good working relationships with service clubs like the Rotary, Lions, and Kiwanis.