Modesto mayor offers experience in bid for second term

The consensus view of Mayor Garrad Marsh is that he is deeply smart, works hard and cares about Modesto. He understands the nuts and bolts of City Hall because he has held elected office for a dozen years, including nearly the past four as mayor.

There also is a separate view that Marsh has stumbled because he is not a good communicator and does not listen to others before making important decisions. Some of those decisions have resulted in policy failures, such as Marsh leading efforts to put sales tax measures on the 2013 and 2015 ballots, only to have voters reject them.

City Hall also faces criticism that it cannot be trusted, especially with how its spends money. Several council candidates said during their November campaigns that was among the feedback they were getting on why voters were not supporting the city’s latest sales tax increase proposal.

Marsh now finds himself in a tough Feb. 2 runoff election against political neophyte Ted Brandvold. Marsh said some of what makes this a competitive campaign is he running against someone who does not have a record that voters can scrutinize. Marsh also faces anti-government sentiment.

“I think local government is tainted with that same aura that has come out of Washington (D.C.) and Sacramento,” he said.

There also is angst among voters over the economy, homelessness, vagrancy and crime, and whether the city has done enough on those issues.

But Marsh said the city has made important strides during his tenure, including reaching agreements with employee associations to have city employees pay more for their pensions, getting the city’s finances in order and restoring funding for the forestry division – which cares for the city’s roughly 80,000 trees – after years of budget cuts and neglect.

Marsh, 67, said he brings leadership to City Hall.

“I’ve been in leadership positions most of my life,” he said. “You need to be able to lead and lead people and staff, bring people together and find consensus.”

He said he held leadership positions in the Navy and then later with state and national bowling associations. Marsh owns McHenry Bowl.

Marsh has raised about $165,000 for his campaign, according to his most recent campaign finance form. That includes nearly $56,000 he raised in a fall 2014 fundraiser and nearly $28,000 he already had in the bank. Brandvold has raised about $36,000 since entering the race in August.

Broad-based support

Marsh said his campaign contributions come from throughout the community and show broad support. Contributors include former Mayor Carol Whiteside, Modesto entrepreneur Dan Costa, Modesto attorney Dave Gianelli and Stanislaus Foods.

“He’s worked hard,” said Maggie Mejia, president of the Latino Community Roundtable of Stanislaus County, which has endorsed Marsh. “He has served our community. He gives back to our community. It’s the passion and sincerity he has (for Modesto). We see it. He has been a member of the roundtable for more than 15 years, before he got onto the City Council.”

Though the race is nonpartisan, the Stanislaus County Democratic Central Committee has endorsed Marsh, who is a Democrat. Committee Chairman Joe A. Souza said late last month that local Democrats were considering sending out a mailer in support of Marsh and calling voters to urge them to vote.

Marsh said that during his tenure the city has balanced its general fund budget by matching ongoing expenses with ongoing revenues for the first time in many years. The general fund makes up about a third of the city’s roughly $366 million operating budget and primarily pays for public safety. During the recession and its aftermath, the city used one-time money to balance the general fund, including not fully funding other accounts and using those “savings” to balance the general fund. The city has stopped that practice.

He said the city is poised to see its downtown blossom through such actions as lowering fees for development. The city also supported the recent formation of a benefit district for downtown, in which property owners will pay annual assessments for services to make downtown cleaner, safer and more attractive in an effort to entice more visitors and investment.

But critics claim the city was too involved in the formation of the district, and that the effort was not nearly as grass roots as district advocates say.

Marsh said he would focus his second term on growing and diversifying the economy while avoiding sprawl. He notes that the city keeps adding health-care jobs. For instance, Central Valley Specialty Hospital opened downtown in 2013; officials said about a year ago that the hospital had 400 employees.

Losses for the mayor

Still, Marsh has been stung during his tenure.

The Modesto Police Officers and Modesto City Fire Fighters associations endorsed Brandvold. The associations sent a mailer to voters saying the runoff is a “great opportunity ... to establish a new tone of cooperation and trust for our city” and that “Modesto can move forward best with Ted Brandvold as Mayor of Modesto.”

This came after the police association gave $2,750 and the firefighters association $2,500 to Marsh’s 2011 mayoral campaign.

Marsh has said he was disappointed by the endorsements but said he understood why the labor unions would do it. “I’ve been pretty tough on them on getting concessions on pensions and other labor issues,” he said in December. “I think that is reflective on them not wanting to support me. ... There is a sense of frustration of where we are as a city and our crime rate and what we’ve had to do to balance the budget.”

While the two unions campaigned for the sales tax measure on the November 2013 ballot, they did not campaign for the one on the November 2015 ballot. Both were for general sales tax increases, which could have been spent on nearly anything, though Marsh and other city officials pledged the tax increases would be spent primarily on public safety, such as hiring more police officers.

Marsh rejected calls to put a public safety tax instead of a general sales tax increase on the November 2015 ballot. A general tax requires a simple majority while a public safety tax requires two-thirds approval but can be spent only on public safety. Marsh said he preferred a public safety tax but did not believe it would get enough votes while a general tax would.

He also wanted grass-roots support, but most of the funding for the campaign came from Marsh, his wife and the wife of former Councilman Brad Hawn. The tax measure received 44 percent of the vote.

Marsh has joked that if he were a smart politician he would not have put a tax increase on the ballot in the same election in which he was seeking a second term. But he said Modesto does not have adequate public safety staffing and services, and that the tax increase would have addressed that.

Marsh also ignited a firestorm of criticism from Salida residents when in 2012 he suggested in his first State of the City address that Modesto explore the possibility of annexing the unincorporated community northwest of Modesto. Marsh had not spoken to Salida leaders before going public with his intentions. He said he has learned his lesson and would not repeat that mistake.

There also was the debacle of Wood Colony, the unincorporated farming community west of Highway 99. Hundreds of colony residents and their supporters turned out at council meetings in late 2013 and early 2014 to protest a council majority’s decision to include part of their community in the city’s long-term growth plans.

Marsh was among those who came in for the brunt of the criticism. But he said colony residents should have become involved in the process a lot sooner, such as when the Planning Commission was holding workshops, to air their concerns rather than waiting until the matter come to the council.

He also was criticized after he said in spring 2014 that the city may have to close Fire Station No. 6 because it did not have the money to keep all of its 11 fire stations open. Marsh was accused of using scare tactics.

Station No. 6 has not closed. Marsh said the city has been able to use what he calls one-time money to keep it open. He said it’s possible the city’s revenues may improve enough in its 2016-17 budget, which starts June 1, to keep the station open with permanent funding. Marsh said that when he said the station could close about 18 months ago he was trying to give the public the best information at the time about the city’s finances.

Referendum on mayor’s style?

Two supporters say he has handled a difficult job well but could do better at seeking input and in communicating.

“More than anything (the runoff election) is probably about Garrad and whether you like his style of governance or not,” said Randy Siefkin, a retired Modesto Junior College political science instructor and local politics observer. “Too often he keeps his own counsel. I’m a supporter. I’ve always been impressed with his level of community involvement. ... And on the broader issues of land use, with the exception of Wood Colony, he’s been a proponent of smart growth.”

Whiteside, the former mayor, said Marsh is approachable and will meet with anyone, but that at times what he says is better suited for land-use professionals at a planning seminar than residents at a town hall meeting. “Sometimes he talks over people’s heads,” she said.

Marsh said he is working on tailoring his message to his audience. He also plans to meet monthly with council members one on one regarding what they want to accomplish. Marsh rejects the claim made by the Chamber of Commerce and other Brandvold supporters that he has not worked well with others.

He said that during his tenure the city has built better relationships with Stanislaus County, Modesto City Schools and the Modesto Irrigation District, with some of the credit belonging to City Manager Jim Holgersson, who came to Modesto about 18 months ago.

John Mensinger, who was elected to the MID board in 2013, said relations between his agency and the city have improved greatly in recent years. He said part of that is because the MID board has turned over and new members wanted better relations and part of it is because of Holgersson and Marsh.

“The relationship is on good footing and Garrad has encouraged that,” said Mensinger, who supports Marsh. “He wanted better relations.”

This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 6:35 PM with the headline "Modesto mayor offers experience in bid for second term."