Agopian, Motts Widened their Leads

County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Steve Weir has announced that the November election has been certified and provided the final numbers in the two close races in Antioch.

Gary Agopian came in second, winning one of the two seats up for grabs in the Antioch City Council race. His 7,795 votes beat third place finisher (and former Councilman) Arne Simonsen by 157 votes, who ended with 7,638. The first place finisher was Wade Harper, who had 9,228 votes (or 24 percent of the vote).

Councilman Reggie Moore lost his bid for re-election to a second term, coming in fourth with 18 percent of the vote. He was followed by Councilwoman Martha Parsons, who was appointed to the council two years ago and received just under 17 percent.

In the Antioch School Board race, Joy Motts won one of the two available seats, expanding her winning margin to 252 votes over John “Jack” Yeager. Motts had 6,525 votes to 6,273 for Yeager (Motts had led by only four votes on election night). Coming in first in the crowded, eight-candidate field is Gary Hack with 6,853 votes. Teri Lynn Shaw failed to win re-election to a second term, finishing fourth with 13 percent of the vote.

The City Council is expected to accept the election results and seat Agopian and Harper as new Council members at tonight’s meeting. Ceremonies begin at 6 p.m. in the council chambers, 300 H Street, Antioch.

For final details on all candidates and races in the county visit www.CoCoVote.us.

Final Results Expected Today 

As of 12:30 p.m. today “the county has 18,000 provisional ballots left to count, and Antioch will have a fair number of those,” said County Clerk/Registrar of Voters Steve Weir.

Weir was asked if the outstanding ballots could have an effect on the outcome of the City Council election, which currently shows a spread of 153 votes between second-place finisher Gary Agopian and third-place Arne Simonsen.

He replied, “They can’t overcome that. Simonsen was doing better in the mail-in ballots. It will help whoever was doing better on Election Day.”

When asked if he would request a recount, Simonsen, who is vacationing in Scotland, gave this statement, “True that the race between Gary Agopian and I is probably the closest in the county. I trust the work of the County Elections office and will live with the results, as we accomplished the goal of replacing the two incumbents.”

He added, “I’d be shocked if the final results changed anything.”

Weir said, “We hope to have the final update posted this afternoon. So look for it.”

To see the election results, please visit www.CoCoVote.us.

A victorious Wade Harper points to election results, as Supervisor Federal Glover and Antioch School Board candidate Vincent Manuel look on.

Harper & Hack in First for Council, School Board; Second Places Still Too Close to Call

By Allen Payton, Publisher

As of Wednesday afternoon, November 10, the Contra Costa County Elections Office reported Wade Harper was still in first place in the race for Antioch City Council, while Gary Agopian had widened his lead over third-place finisher Arne Simonsen from 70 votes to 150.

In the Antioch School Board race, Gary Hack had a commanding lead for first place, while Joy Motts, also expanded her lead to 150 votes from just four votes on election night, over third-place finisher John “Jack” Yeager.

Over 5,000 additional votes were added to the total in the council race, since the total counted through last Tuesday, November 2. Harper had 8,617 votes, Agopian had 7,368 and Simonsen had 7,218 votes. Councilman Reggie Moore was in fourth place with 6,456 votes and Councilwoman Martha Parsons had 5,953.

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The following is the ballot pamphlet argument supporting the proposed half-cent sales tax increase in Antioch.

Antioch is struggling to maintain the services that protect our quality of life and keep our city safe. State takeaways of local money, combined with declining home values and decreased consumer spending have seriously impacted the city’s main sources of revenue – property and sales taxes.

The city continues to look at other ways to increase revenue, including working with public employees to obtain further voluntary pay and benefit concessions. However, this financial crisis is severe. In the last two years the city has cut $13 million and still faces a $4 million deficit. Twenty-five percent of the workforce has been eliminated, remaining staff has voluntarily cut their pay and benefits by $2.8 million and city hall is closed on Fridays.

Positions at the police department are left unfilled and there are 20 fewer police officers on duty than there were two years ago.

If we are to preserve our safe neighborhoods, additional funding is needed to prevent further police layoffs and to maintain police patrols and 911 response times.

Other city services that contribute to our quality of life also need additional funding, including fixing potholes and maintaining local streets and sidewalks and enforcing city codes to clean up abandoned properties.

This measure will provide a stable source of funding for these vital services and not one dollar can be taken by the state.

This measure also has strong accountability provisions, including an annual audit and a citizen oversight committee, to ensure the money is being spent as promised. And the measure will expire in eight years.

This measure will bring stable revenue that cannot be taken away by the state, has strong citizen oversight of spending and an annual audit. In order to maintain our police services and emergency response times and keep our community safe, please vote Yes.

The following is the ballot pamphlet argument against the proposed half-cent sales tax increase in Antioch.

Vote NO to increasing Antioch sales tax beyond the current record levels.

The tax dollars would NOT be dedicated to police services and public safety, the number one priority among citizens, but go to the general fund. The tax would not add police but “hopefully” allow a break even next year. It will NOT solve the crisis.

The proposed oversight is not binding and cannot legally be modified at a later time.

While all Californians have seen many increases in service fees and taxes, Antioch leaders have:

• Raised water rates a total of 60 percent
• Raised sewer rates a total of 30 percent
• Allowed garbage rates to climb 26 percent this year.

Logic and history tells us a local sales tax would negatively impact Antioch businesses and still not produce the income projected. It’s wrong to ask for more tax dollars at a time when so many families and businesses are struggling financially.

Economic development, business retention, reducing the city business permit process, constant budget reviews, pension reforms and contracting out more city services will help solve our fiscal crisis.

Vote NO to this tax increase. It is the wrong solution at the wrong time.

The following is a transcription of the answers to the first question in the Antioch school board candidates debate on Aug. 25. Eight candidates are running for two seats on the school board. They are Joy Motts, Gary Hack, Angel Luevano, Debra Vinson, Teri Lynn Shaw, David Pfeiffer, John “Jack” Yeager and Vincent Manuel. All of the candidates except Manuel participated in the debate.

Question: The district faces another $6.4 million in cuts to avoid insolvency. It’s already cut 107 teaching positions. What steps would you take to keep the district financially afloat?

Joy Motts: It’s a huge challenge. With the budget not settled at the state level there’s still more information to come. So I believe it’s going to take all stakeholders. We’re going to need to get our teachers and our parents, our administrators, our community involved in determining how we are going to go forward in funding public education. Truly we need some new outside of the box, innovative thinking in order to try to take on these troubling times and these challenges we have fiscally. I’m prepared to take on that challenge. I’ve worked with the school for many years. I’ve been out in the community and have relationships with many in the community, business partners and all. I think that strength I can bring that to the table in making determinations in how we can go forward in funding public education.

I think it’s only fair that we involve everybody in the community. It’s a huge challenge – at the state level and federal level too. We have got to take into consideration how this affects what we are going to do at the administrative level, at the classified level with teachers, get parents involved to determine priorities there. It’s only fair that we get everybody involved in making those choices in how we go forward. What programs we are going to be able to continue with and how we are going to be able to take on being fiscally responsible and still meeting the needs of all our children. (more…)

City Council candidates, from left, Arne Simonsen, Wade Harper and Gary Agopian at a candidates forum in September that Council members Reggie Moore and Martha Parsons did not attend.

Wade Harper: I agree with a half-cent sales tax. I agree with raising taxes only as a last resort. People are paying Mello-Roos tax, water and garbage rates have increased. We always have to look at it as a last resort and not always go into the pockets of the taxpayers. I do realize that there was a survey done to ask if they would agree with a half-cent sales tax and there is evidence that the community would agree with that. The City Council is going before the  community and saying, “Give us some direction. We are at a fork in the road. Do we maintain our current level of service, or do you want us to start decreasing service?”

I believe that public safety is one of the most important things. We need to properly fund public safety, properly staff our police department, our fire department. If you ask people in the community they will say our number one concern is public safety. If you ask any one of these candidates, at the top of their list is going to be public safety. So we have to properly staff our police department, our fire department. We also need to make sure we can improve the roads. It means that I’m going to vote yes because I want our police department properly staffed, and I want to maintain this level of service to the community. (more…)

Ruehlig was misrepresented by CCT

I haven’t written heretofore about my wife’s Area 5 County Board of Education campaign precisely because Cynthia Ruehlig is a resolutely independent personality standing on her own merits. I am compelled, though, to answer a denigrating misfact. Cynthia was accused in an October 20^th Times editorial of “misrepresenting” herself as a “Nonprofit Administrator.” Cynthia’s designation is transparent. She completed a two-year study in Nonprofit Management at the California State University East Bay and filed her credential with the County Elections Office.

My wife proudly acknowledged herself as a due diligence clerk (County Child Protective Services) in a June, 2010 letter to the editor; as a working class employee on her website, www.cynthiaruehlig.com, and as a clerk in her Times recorded interview. Why tabloid journalism?

The editorial conveniently ignores the election manual, which states a candidate may elect occupation or vocation. Webster defines vocation as a calling, pursuit, passion. Cynthia pointedly defines her vocation. Former computer teacher, businesswoman, church webmaster, five-time foster parent and co-founder of the Antioch Music Foundation, Cynthia writes grants resulting in thousands of dollars for school instruments, field trips and community concerts.

Unfazed by neither fear nor favor, Cynthia is owed an apology by the Times interviewer, Daniel Borenstein.

Walter Ruehlig