Los Banos city staff members were asked by The Westside Express if they had a message or advice for the city’s residents. Several responded:
- “The residents need to be more involved in what happens with their government. … Folks need to really look at what their government is doing; how their tax money is being spent and how services are being done. We should be doing some strategic planning, that’s a big thing. … Cutting trees and fixing streets are good, but we’re growing so big and we’re not going to have capacity in our sewers or in our wells. I freak out about the city’s capacity to supply and treat water.”
- “Pay attention to the decisions your elected officials are making, especially the relationships some of these elected officials have with the city manager. The way they handled (Pinheiro’s claims of wrongful firing), that’s not normal. People should be angered, by it.”
- “First, people need to know that knowledge is power. They need to get involved. … People need to start questioning the consent agenda. There needs to be proper discussion.”
- “They need to be aware of what is going on and while who the city manager is does not directly affect them, it affects their community. … Decisions being made by the city manager are being made by a person who does not have the experience to make those decisions.”
- “There’s so much, so much. (Pinheiro) doesn’t have the fundamental foundation to do this job. And now he wants an assistant because he doesn’t know how to do his job.”
- “Start looking into the city manager’s strategic plan. What is his long-term outlook? What are the performance measures he‘s going to have on himself and for his staff. Right now, he has none.”
- “The danger I see is total control because of the 5-0 dismissal. That makes a single council person the king of Los Banos.”
- “We’re all at or near our breaking point.”
