It is a hefty field of candidates that Fountain Valley voters have to choose from for filling three City Council seats on the November ballot.
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Nine candidates, including the two incumbents, are looking to finish in the top third and take a seat on the dais for the next four-year terms. With Councilmember Patrick Harper not returning, the council is guaranteed a new face after the general election.
Incumbents Kim Constantine and Jim Cunneen are facing challenges from Elizabeth Andrade, Harrison Dibblee, Dan Hay, Patricia Neal, John Nguyen, Mark Leonard and Katy Wright.
We asked the candidates questions about housing, city finances, transparency, and more, which you can read in our voter guide.
The candidates also talked about what they saw as the biggest need facing the city.
Andrade, the executive director of 211OC, said it is “protecting our quality of life while preparing the city for the future. That means maintaining strong public safety, addressing aging infrastructure, remaining financially stable and managing development responsibly.”
She’d prioritize essential services for the community and infrastructure, and make development decisions with the broader community impact in mind, she said.
“These issues are connected,” she said. “New development affects infrastructure and city services. Aging streets, water systems and public facilities require long-term investment. Police and fire services need adequate resources, and those commitments require a sustainable financial foundation.”
Constantine, who was first elected to the council in 2018, said making the city financially solvent is the biggest need facing Fountain Valley.
While the voters approved in 2016 a 1% local tax to bolster the city’s coffers, it is set to sunset in 2036, she noted. She and other city leaders, she said, have had the responsibility to make sure Fountain Valley has “both the necessary recurring revenue and cash flow to meet our financial obligations.”
“Fountain Valley will continue to seek new revenue sources without new taxes or fees,” she said. “We must, as we must be financially solvent for the continued success and prosperity of this amazing community.”
Cunneen is wrapping up his first term on the council; he previously served on the school board. Public safety is what he identified as the biggest need for the city.
“Our community’s safety requires a professional and responsive police force and highly trained firefighters and paramedics. During my time as councilmember and mayor, we completed the recruiting and hiring of our new fire and police chiefs, who have embarked on new data studies, including community risk assessments and standards of coverage to provide (the) best data for public safety policy decisions.”
The city should continue to ensure local law enforcement and first responders have “the resources, equipment, and personnel they need to do their jobs and reduce response times.” And he said the city should be part of lobbying the state legislature “against bills that harm public safety and for bills that strengthen public safety.”
Dibblee, who works in education, said the city may find itself needing more fire and police officers in the future, so the council needs “to control what we do spend now” in preparation.
And, he said, a big need for Fountain Valley residents is to be able to get around town more efficiently.
“I feel we need the lights to be more in sync. The worst part of living here is trying to navigate the city,” Dibblee said. “I live about 1.5 miles from the grocery store, and it can take me 10 minutes to get there or back.”
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Hay, a business CEO and president, said he’s also coached young athletes for more than 35 years and raised his children in the city. “I’ve watched real concerns go unaddressed for too long,” said Hay.
“I’ll push for stronger oversight of sober living and group homes,” he said, “responsible development standards that stop rubber-stamping variances for large projects that don’t fit our neighborhoods, and full support for our police and firefighters so they have what they need to keep our families safe.”
A council needs to treat “these everyday concerns as seriously as they actually are.”
Leonard, an entrepreneur, said there has been a failure to address maintenance issues and enforcement of local laws that should be keeping Fountain Valley nice, “whether it be due to issues related to homelessness and rehab/halfway houses that operate illicitly or fail to uphold the terms of their authorization and permitting, or simple things like illegal fireworks at 2 to 3 a.m. in the morning that pose fire and safety risks.”
But also, he said the city needs to “double down and invest in further enhancing the many aspects of our community that make it a great place to live,” including in parks, recreation centers and “low cost community services.”
Neal, who is a retired VA hospital nurse and Air Force major, raised concerns about “multiple multi-storied buildings on each corner of Fountain Valley,” and projects needing to be evaluated for revenue potential.
She also noted grants and low-income incentives can help first-time homebuyers and seniors with housing and said, “possible charter city initiatives to revise additional housing mandates” could help.
Neal said the city needs more events and programs for children and suggested tapping local high school students “for their opinion of what the needs are in the city to keep them active in Fountain Valley events.”
Nguyen, an engineer and staff air pollution specialist, said a near-term need for the city he grew up in is “how to maintain or improve city safety moving forward, while the city increases its population and deals with increasing city expenses.” And “fostering a strong community” with events that bring people together, including with city leaders, would help, he said.
“It is imperative that Fountain Valley foster a strong sense of community, where people feel safe, respected, valued, connected, and truly included,” he said. “So that when people see kids walk or bike on the street, they are more likely to slow their cars down because those are our community’s kids. Or, when there are unsafe or illicit activities within our communities, they will report them because they trust our safety departments will properly address the issues.”
Wright, a public speaker, said she is concerned that “senior citizens and persons with disabilities are not having their concerns addressed effectively. Perhaps the city could appoint an ombudsman.”
She said she encouraged the city to use its YouTube channel to show council and Planning Commission meetings to make them more accessible, even doing it herself, and now that they are broadcast live, closed captioning and multiple language options exist.
She said more communication and council discussion of issues are important as well.
Read more of the voter guide, including from these candidates and candidates up and down the ballot at ocregister.com/voter-guide.
Ballots may be returned by mail (must be postmarked by Nov. 3 and received within a week of Election Day) or to the OC Registrar of Voters’ drop boxes around town now, and the first vote centers will open for casting ballots in person on Oct. 24.
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