Jim West is one of three city councilmen who will be sworn into office in San Juan Bautista on Dec. 16. He received the top number of votes in the five-way race for three seats in San Juan Bautista, with 24.2 percent ballots going to him.
Other councilmen who will be sworn in include newly elected Christopher Martorana and incumbent Tony Boch.
West said he went to bed early on election night, before the first returns came in, because he had been in the hospital a few days earlier.
“I was aware that I was the leading vote getter the next day and confident of victory after a day or two had passed,” he said, via email.
West, who handles public affairs and permitting for Graniterock, has served on the San Benito County Parks and Recreation Commission for eight years and has been a proponent of the county River Parkway and Regional Park plans.
West was one of the people who was integral in developing the County Parks and Recreation Commission in 2001.
“I’m looking at a framed Pinnacle newspaper article dated Feb. 1, 2001, where County Supervisors Ruth Kesler, Ron Rodrigues and I are shown talking about turning Graniterock’s depleted 70-plus acre mining site on the San Benito River into an open-space wildlife park for public hiking and picnicking, and deeding it to the County at no cost,” he said. “The article quotes me as saying that ‘we hope to have completed plans ready in two to four months.’ We did, but nothing happened. The county was not structured to take the finished property.”
West pushed for the parks commission and joined it when it was formed, though he recently had to resign due to a conflict of interest after he was elected to the San Juan Bautista City Council.
“During that time, we held public meetings, put out public surveys, worked with design consultants, developed a Master Plan, lobbied its approval by the Board of Supervisors,” he said, noting that it was approved by the supervisors. “(We) worked to develop an EIR for the River Parkway, which is now working its way through the process.”
West also serves on the San Benito County Health Care District board to which he was elected in and will continue his service as there is no financial conflict of interest.
While campaigning, West said the number one concern he heard from residents was about the economic viability of the city.
“Residents want to keep the historical ‘character’ of the city, but want better city services: fire, police, quality water, street and sidewalk maintenance,” he said. “Those things are only possibly by increasing city revenues – either through fees and taxes to residents or a better balance between residential/commercial/industrial land uses within the city.”
He said for his first-term, he plans to focus on finding a better balance of those land uses, though he said he knows it may be a challenge.
“It is a political reality that people don’t like change – even change for the better, achieving that better balance between residential/commercial/industrial land uses within the city is going to anger some people who don’t want anything to change ever,” he said.
As the owner of a more than 70-year-old home in the historic district of San Juan and someone who enjoys restoring historic construction equipment, old cars and trucks, West said he understands residents’ desire to preserve the historical nature of San Juan. But he said he thinks there is a way to do that and give it a healthier tax base.
“The city will not change, but it will evolve into a healthier financial entity,” he said.