As Woodland’s city government faces lawsuits, a police shortage, accusations of retaliation and misconduct, and a persistent problem with its attempts to implement a city administrator position, voters in the city will decide three contested city council races in the upcoming Nov. 3 General Election.
Some residents expect voter turnout to be higher than usual after a string of hot-button issues in the town have invigorated residents and sparked heavy turnout for some city council meetings. Here’s a glimpse of the races ahead of election day.
In the race for Woodland City Council Position 4, Woodland resident Karl Chapman will face current Woodland Mayor Grover Laseke, who will step away from the mayor’s gavel to try for a seat on the council.
As mayor, Laseke has gained an intimate knowledge of Woodland’s inner workings. He has worked for many years in service to the public as an elected official in Toledo and Woodland, and as a former law enforcement official. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in administration and many hours of training in government operations and management.
“While many talk about wanting to make a difference,” Laseke said. “I have been doing it.”
In all, Laseke has spent 41 years in public service, which he says has enabled him to develop a broad skillset well suited to a position on the city council.
“I like my opponent and I believe he has his heart in the right place,” Laseke said of Chapman. “But he lacks the experience to start work on the issues right away.”
If elected, Laseke plans to focus on transportation issues in Woodland, putting together a reasonable budget, and implementing the city’s strategic plan.
“No organization can advance if it doesn’t know where it is going,” Laseke said. “The City of Woodland passed a strategic plan last December and now we need to implement it.”
To help restore balance and functionality to the oftentimes sticky Woodland political scene, Laseke said he will work toward building a more orderly and direct City Council atmosphere.
“I detest behind-the-scenes maneuvering and stirring the pot to bring attention to problems,” he said. “More time needs to be spent working on the issues rather than talking about how we did things wrong.
Chapman, a 25-year Woodland resident and shop foreman at Hydraulics Inc., said he chose to run because he was tired of what he called the dysfunctional nature of Woodland’s leadership.
“They don’t mesh and talk with one another,” Chapman said. “There’s no communication. I want that cohesion of communication back … you can never have enough communication.”
If elected, he plans to approach the council as a new face with a positive attitude with a focus on getting the council to work well together.
His experience includes time as a motor pool sergeant in the U.S. Army with up to 80 subordinates, he said, where he also gained valuable experience with budgeting and labor costs.
Chapman criticized the recent council decision to remove a sunset clause from a 6.5 percent public utility tax which was set to expire at the end of the year. Council members made the case that the tax is necessary to fund the city’s fire department and ambulance service, but Chapman rejected their reasoning.
“If we needed to go past what we were saying, we never should have had a sunset clause; we should have made the tax permanent,” he said. “Don’t entice the people saying one thing when you know you’ll be doing something else later.”
Retired business owner and active community participant JJ Burke will face incumbent Councilmember Susan Humbyrd in the race for Woodland’s City Council Place 5 seat.
Burke is involved with several community organizations. He is the executive director for the Woodland Chamber of Commerce and Grangemaster at the Woodland Grange 178. He is also a former council member.
“We need safe streets were our children and seniors can be comfortable,” Burke wrote in the Clark County Voters’ Pamphlet. “We deserve a safe and economically stable community.”
Burke did not respond to multiple request for interviews.
Humbyrd said she considers public service a personal responsibility.
“I don’t feel I have the right to complain about the problems if I’m not willing to try to be a part of the answers,” she said.
Humbyrd has stood alone on principle when she doesn’t feel things are going as they should. She recently voted against moving forward on a controversial plan to implement a city administrator position because she said the council had not done the appropriate work to secure funding for the position first, even though she agreed the position is important to the city.
If re-elected, she plans to focus on the revitalization efforts for downtown Woodland.
“I want Woodland to grow, but in a way that maintains the beautiful gem it is,” she said.
Councilmember Michael Benjamin is seeking to retain his seat on the Woodland City Council for Position 7 after being appointed to the position when councilmember Scott Perry resigned earlier this year.
Benjamin first applied for the position as a way to give back to the community, he said. Benjamin, a retired accountant, has lived in Woodland for more than 40 years.
After some time on the council, Benjamin said he was surprised by how complicated the issues could be for a councilmember.
“I realize now there’s a lot more to the issues,” he said. “Having seen how they work and knowing there’s a whole lot more that goes on behind the scenes, I just want to bring some common sense.”
Benjamin voted with other councilmembers to remove the sunset clause from a 6.5 percent public utility tax earlier this year. If the tax had been allowed to expire, Woodland could have faced serious cuts to its emergency response as funding for the fire department dried up. He also voted to move forward with implementing a controversial city administrator position.
He has kept his campaign simple. He said his strategy has been trying to network and stay involved with the community while depending on spreading his message through word-of-mouth.
“I’ve just been talking to people,” he said. “I am an honest guy who really is interested in what goes on around me, and I want to be involved as much as possible to make this city great.”
Matthew Jacobs describes himself in the Clark County Voter’s Pamphlet as an active volunteer with the local YMCA, schools, and sporting events.
“As a person with long-term plans to raise my family in Woodland, I am very interested in being part of shaping Woodland for the future,” he wrote in the pamphlet.
His goal is to be a voice for his community who votes with their interests in mind, he wrote.
Jacobs did not respond to multiple request for interviews or supply a photo to The Reflector.
