Visalia City Councilman Greg Collins paid a visit to the College of the Sequoias Young Democrats meeting and had some prescient observations to go along with giving the group some insights into his common sense approach to city governance. Greg brings the training and experience of a professional urban planner to his decisions and votes on the council.
He emphasized his long-held view that infill, or developing vacant and unused land within the built-up parts of town, needs to provide the basis for short-term growth. It's more efficient in a number of ways. First, it saves the city money because necessary infrastructure, such as water, sewer, roads and electrical are already in place. Second, when development is compact it reduces driving mileage, cutting down on air pollution and the frequency of traffic accidents. Third, it reduces emergency response times. Finally, avoiding sprawl saves Valley farmland.
Greg pointed to new projects underway. One of these is an arrangement to return 13 million gallons of city-treated sewage water to agricultural use in exchange for 6.5 million gallons of new clean water. The pure water will be pumped into local ponding basins to recharge the city's falling water table. As Greg said, "We live in a desert. If we don't protect our water resources the cost will be more than we can afford to pay." Visalia is the only local city to have a project like this. He also indicated his support for a city legal action to oppose Cal Water's plan to drastically increase water rates for Visalia residents.
Councilman Collins is a registered Democrat but the ballot is non-partisan and Greg agrees that's how he sees his service. "There's no Democratic or Republican way to fix a pothole," he explains. He described himself as fiscally conservative, insisting on balancing the city's $250 million budget. The city did a lot of belt-tightening during the Recession, which Greg points to as the main reason the city is in strong fiscal shape now, unlike some other California cities that have or may face default.
Yet he is at the same time liberal on his commitment to quality of life issues. With revenues returning, he now sees scope for some improvements. A new animal shelter will soon go out to bid, and is expected to cost $5-6 million. Bids for a new water treatment plant have come in up to $30 million under expectations. He wants to give city employees a raise, feeling that their willingness to accept pay cuts while taking on additional work during recent lean times has earned them a well-deserved reward now that financial conditions are improving.
Greg became the youngest Visalia City Councilman ever when he first got elected back in the 1970s. He was spurred to do so because as a recent college graduate in urban planning, he and some friends decided to attend a council meeting and saw them approving projects that went completely against the principles and industry standards he had learned in school. Instead of going along with the old boys network he walked the city door to door and got elected.
Greg Collins has been on and off the council over the past thirty-plus years, serving as mayor at times but also sometimes facing strong political and monetary opposition from developers who want every project approved no matter what. His principles, track record and common-sense approaches indeed mark him as a fine leader who can resist pressure and is truly the "quality of life candidate." He richly deserves re-election to the Visalia City Council on November 5.
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