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2020 election, Local elections

Solano County gearing up for March 3 California Primary Election

John Gardner, Solano County’s assistant registrar of voters, offers reminders to prospective voters

Vallejo Times-Herald, by Richard Bammer, January 4, 2020

The California Primary is set for March 3 and voters are encouraged to be prepared.

The primary is a “party-based” election for presidential candidates, John Gardner, Solano County’s assistant registrar of voters, said in a press release issued Friday:

He advised voters to verify which party they are registered with by either calling the County Registrar, at 784-6675, or going online at https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov. Any registration changes must be submitted by Feb. 17 for the upcoming election.

Gardner pointed out that voters registered without a party can select a “cross-over” ballot for either the Democratic, American Independent, or Libertarian parties. Voters can request these ballots over the phone, by e-mail, or in-person on Election Day at their assigned polling location.

Voters who are registered without a party can still vote for Republican, Green or Peace and Freedom party candidates by updating their registration to be registered with one of these parties. Again, the changes must be completed by the Feb. 17 deadline, Gardner said.

He added that his office is “starting to ramp up” recruitment of poll workers for the primary.

The County Registrar needs some 1,100 volunteer poll workers to fill a variety of slots both on Election day and prior to Election Day. Workers can assist voters at traditional polling places, or at curbside drop-off locations in and Fairfield and Vallejo.

More information can be found at the Registrar’s website, http://www.solanocounty.com/depts/rov/workers/default.asp, or by calling to speak to a poll worker team member.

Gardner encourages service, church and nonprofit groups to adopt polling locations.

“This can be a great fundraiser for organizations or a way to be recognized in the community you serve,” he wrote in the release.

Such groups can earn more $1,500 by adopting a location and volunteering a team of workers to assist with the election.

More information on adopting polling places can be found online at http://www.solanocounty.com/depts/rov/workers/adopt_a_poll.asp.

Good news for vote-by-mail voters — postage will not be required for your 2020 ballots.

Ballots can be dropped off at these locations:

    • At any of the seven city clerk’s offices during business hours;
    • At the Registrar’s office, 675 Texas St., suite 2600 (second floor), in Fairfield during normal business hours;
    • At any polling place on Election Day;
    • At two curbside drop-off locations from Feb. 27 to 29 and March 2, and 3 on the Union Street side of the County Administration Building in Fairfield during business hours; and at the California Maritime Academy Aquatic Center, 117 Maritime Academy Drive in Vallejo.

The County Registrar of Voters is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will be open on Saturday, Feb. 29, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Election Day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., to provide election services to the public.

Benicia CA, Benicia Community Development Department

City of Benicia Announces Appointment of Brad Misner as Community Development Director effective January 27, 2020

PRESS RELEASE

CITY OF BENICIA
250 East L Street
Benicia, California 94510
 
Contact:   Lorie Tinfow ,  City Manager
 City of Benicia
 (707) 746-4200
 Email: [email protected]

Brad Misner, Benicia Community Development Director

Benicia, CA (January 2, 2020) — City Manager Lorie Tinfow announced today that Brad Misner has been hired to serve as Benicia’s Community Development Director.  His first day will be Monday, January 27, 2020.

Mr. Misner brings more than 20 years of experience in urban planning to the position, most recently as Community Development Director with the City of Millbrae. Prior to that position, Mr. Misner served as the Director of Planning and Neighborhood Services with the City of Milpitas and moved up the ranks from Assistant Planner to Principal Planner for the City of Santa Monica.  His professional experience is very broad with key accomplishments that include negotiations of a development agreement application authorizing the construction of a 140,000 square foot bio-technology campus and preparation of a new Affordable Housing Ordinance.  He also supervised negotiations on several development agreement applications for hotels, a car dealership and several mixed-used, urban in-fill projects ranging from new high rise and low-rise residential, hotel, and commercial developments.

In his new role, Misner will oversee and lead all aspects of the Community Development Department including current and advance land use planning, housing, and building permit issuance, and provide support to three commissions: Planning, Historic Preservation Review, and Community Sustainability.

Mr. Misner was selected from several top candidates following a thorough statewide recruitment process conducted by executive recruitment firm, Peckham & McKenney, Inc.

“Mr. Misner’s experience is a great match for our current efforts related to economic development and responding to the housing crisis,” said City Manager Lorie Tinfow.  “His passions for customer service and for staff development are highly aligned with our needs.  I’m thrilled that he will be joining the team!”

Mr. Misner holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography and Group Social Science from Western Michigan University and received the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) certification in 2001.

Mr. Misner lives in Danville with this wife and daughter.

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Meeting notices, Progressive Democrats of Benicia

Meeting of Nov. 12, 2019 – Food Co-op & Candidate Endorsements

[  Note – result of ENDORSEMENT VOTE is here.  ]

Tues Nov. 12, 6:30 pm
Benicia Library, Dona Benicia room

Food Co-op & Candidate Endorsements

Our final meeting for 2019 was held on Tuesday, November 12 at the Benicia Library’s Dona Benicia room at 6:30 pm. We started a bit early for this meeting to make sure there would be plenty of time for our endorsement process, one of our most important functions of the year.

We had two presentations on the program:

FIRST… Paula Schnese, Executive Director of Cultivate Community Food Co-op, Solano Co.’s first community-owned natural grocery store, updated us on the Co-op’s activities and then introduced Jon Steinman, who is on a 130-stop book tour and author of Grocery Store: The Promise of Food Co-ops in the Age of Grocery Giants. Mr. Steinman previewed his book on concerns about trends among dominant grocers, and how the community food co-op model offers an alternative to the larger grocers’ influence on communities and food supply.
VIDEO OF PAULA SCHNESE’ PRESENTATION (5 minutes, video thanks to Pat Toth-Smith)
VIDEO OF JON STEINMAN’S PRESENTATION (40 minutes, with introduction by Paula Schnese, Steinman begins at 1:40, video thanks to Pat Toth-Smith)

Beginning at 7:30… we had two panels of candidates who will be on the Benicia ballot for the March 2020 Primary Elections. For each panel there were prepared questions asked to each candidate, as well as Q&A with the audience. The panels were:

      • Panel 1: CA Cong. District 5: Mike Thompson (incumbent), and Jason Kishineff, challenger.
      • Panel 2: Solano Co. Board of Supervisors, District 2: Monica Brown (incumbent), and challengers Rochelle Sherlock and K. Patrice Williams.

VIDEO OF THE CANDIDATE INTERVIEW SESSION – CA Cong. District 5, Thompson & Kishineff (28 minutes, with Moderator Maggie Kolk, video thanks to Pat Toth-Smith)

VIDEO OF THE CANDIDATE INTERVIEW SESSION – Solano County Supervisor, District 1, Brown, Sherlock & Williams (40 minutes, with Moderator Maggie Kolk, video thanks to Pat Toth-Smith)
ENDORSEMENT RESULTS: Progressive Democrats endorse Mike Thompson and Monica Brown.

Following the discussion with candidates, non-PDB members were be asked to leave the room. The remainder of the meeting was closed to the public and open only to current PDB members. During this remaining time, members discussed the candidates and were given ballots for voting on whether and whom to endorse in each race.

PDB bylaws state that to receive the Club’s endorsement a candidate must receive 50% + 1 of the votes from those present voting. PDB bylaws also state that members are entitled to vote 60 days after payment of dues.

This last PDB meeting of the year was highly informative – on the food front and also about the candidates running for offices that affect each of us on a daily basis.