John’s Soapbox-

EVP Newsletter 10-12-16

Follow The Money!

For many months, we have been deluged, bombarded, drenched, and covered with requests for paying attention to candidates and issues on the National Stage, the State Arena, and our little Region in Northern California. Now it is time to check the ballot box and vote. Although I have previously printed the ECA recommendations before (we have had one recent change to our endorsements-Brandi Asker for City of Santa Rosa City Council has been added),  I wanted to take this space to say a few words about elections in general.

For some of us, it may feel as if our vote doesn’t matter, who cares, and why bother. I urge you to consider attending our General Membership Meeting on November 15, 2016 at the Washoe House. At that meeting, we will conduct the business of setting our Board and Officers for next year, and after we do our necessary and short business at hand, we will be fortunate to hear Doug Bosco, former United States Congressman, discuss with us why it matters to be involved in local politics. This is one luncheon I urge you not to miss. There is a growing “movement” to have a more “adult conversation” with local City and County government electeds to have a far more comprehensive approach to the funding of necessary government services for the next decade or two. I think we are all tired of seeing one ballot initiative after another being proposed to fund one service after another. I know for me, I feel we already pay plenty of fees and taxes and that local governments should be able to get control of their spending so they do not get surprised and anxious every two or three years. Doug Bosco should, and I trust will, shed some light on what may be the beginning of understanding why we should be very involved in local politics because there are meetings, seminars, and workshops that will be taking place that will be discussing long range issues like the one discussed above. If you are not at the table, you are probably the meal. Or something like that—

At any rate, I hope we see a lot of people for our first ever meeting at the Washoe House on November 15 from 12pm-2pm. Not only will we have Doug Bosco, but we will also have Mike Ghilotti, Ghilotti Bros. and Dan St. John from Petaluma Public Works discussing the positives of true partnering between private entities and the Public “owners”. Let’s try to really plan to be at this meeting and bring one of your subcontractors and one of your suppliers that are not listed as members of the ECA on our website
www.nceca.org

Thanks for all you do!

That’s All Folks

John