Our View: Brandvold brings many good qualities to mayor’s job

There were many things we liked about Ted Brandvold when he came to our editorial board meetings during his campaign to become Modesto’s mayor. He was calm, polite and congenial. What we liked the most, though, was that he was open about what he didn’t know.

That’s going to be the most important of his positive qualities. Holding his first elective office, Brandvold faces a steep learning curve with thousands of details that must be addressed if not mastered in a short time frame. The city charter requires the mayor to recommend a budget to the council. He’ll face dozens of important decisions ranging from initiating discussions on Modesto’s future to finding enough money to pay for more cops, finalizing a contract with firefighters and making sure the city’s infrastructure can accommodate the growth being envisioned by developers and city planners.

It will be easier to get a grip on these issues if he’s clear about what he doesn’t know and about how city staff and members of the City Council can help him. It is fortunate that Brandvold has City Manager Jim Holgersson to rely on; he is a proven coalition builder and top-notch administrator.

But it won’t be up to Holgersson alone. Brandvold already has friends on the council, though newcomers make up the majority. Still, veterans Bill Zoslocki, Jenny Kenoyer and Tony Madrigal will be available to provide counsel; newcomers Kristi Ah You, Mani Grewal and Doug Ridenour will likely have ideas, too.

Naturally, Brandvold will also be getting plenty of advice – whether he wants it or not – from those outside City Hall who want to move the city in specific directions. That’s where his other attributes – patience and civility – will come in handy.

The Bee didn’t endorse Brandvold, preferring incumbent Garrad Marsh’s experience. But the city’s voters were emphatic in making their choice. Brandvold got 58 percent of the vote in the all-mail election; Marsh got only 41 percent, barely budging from the 39 percent he polled in November. A few ballots might yet trickle in or have yet to be counted, but the result will not change.

More troubling is that only 25 percent of those eligible bothered to vote. Many voters just don’t pay attention to February elections, and those who do often want to see specific decisions made. Such an unacceptably low turnout underlines our argument that all city and county elections should be moved to even-numbered years, when special-interest voters are less likely to dominate.

We also congratulate the Modesto City Schools Board for choosing Chad Brown to fill the trustee seat left vacant by Desiree Romo. His experience as a Sylvan Union School board member should serve the district well. While we recognize the board needs more diversity, moving to district elections is supposed to allow voters to remedy that situation.

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Our View: Brandvold brings many good qualities to mayor’s job."