Your voice at City Hall.

Small business owner, community leader, problem solver.

Those are 12 words that Gary Singh filled Manteca mailboxes with during the past two months during his campaign for mayor.

Soon it will be his turn to see if those attributes and implied promise will take Manteca to the next level.

Although all of the ballots cast haven’t been counted, it is clear the 36-year-old will be Manteca’ next mayor.

Singh declines, though, to declare victory until the last vote has been tabulated. He has noted it is out of respect for the other candidates.

It is pure Singh.

It  is the same respect and cordial behavior Singh displayed as an 8-year-old helping at his father’s store.

It is the same restraint and sense of decorum the Sierra High graduate and UOP grad with honors held himself personally to when the buzzsaw act of some of his detractors got to the point it would prompt many to lash back.

It is an attribute that would seem to put one at a complete disadvantage in today’s world of politics where Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts seem like warm-up acts for public political discourse.

But it may just be what is needed to take Manteca to that elusive “next level.”

The mayor is not king. To get thing done, they are virtually powerless as one.

The power comes with three or more council members reaching consensus.

The real power, though, to transform comes when divergent views and goals can be brought together.

Not in lockstep, but when careful thought is given to points others are making and weighing options that can address the most grievances and concerns in a unified  move forward.

Singh by himself will not change Manteca’s course.

It is the engagement of all council members that will do so.

Much of the last four years have been riddled with distractions.

*You could call them growing pains.

*Musical chairs at the highest level of bureaucratic governance.

Fiscal mismanagement that wasn’t criminal but so fraught with erroneous bookkeeping and lack of experienced oversight, no one could say with certainty what figures were right and what figures were wrong.

That for all practical purposes has been squared away.

Say what you want about outgoing Mayor Ben Cantu, but it was his persistence that led to the uncovering of the fact the city had all but abandoned its general ledger in  favor of department fiefdoms tracking their own financials

Yes, he may have been the point man on a council-level decision that led to installing revolving doors to the offices of a number of key department heads over a period of two years or so.

Change for the sake of change is never good. But there are plenty of indications that wasn’t what drove a number of the departures,

What happens at City Hall — good or bad — is hung around the mayor’s neck.

It’s because the mayor is the face of the city.

It is also due to the mayor’s rule in getting the council to develop marching orders, if you will, for the city manager on initiatives and then resisting the incorrect urge to micromanage.

Manteca, by the way, doesn’t need a grandiose plan to change course. They have a general plan — and one that is updated assuming it is adopted before 2035 — to serve as the broad blueprint.

What is need is the council to step it up a notch.

That will involve emphasizing four key thigs in the coming six months of the new council term

First, and foremost, they must appoint a replacement council member for Singh’s seat that makes the council more reflective of the community.

You can read into ethnic undertones or whatever you like. The key is to have a council that will not have a majority of retirees making decisions. Age, for good or bad, offers different perspectives and visions.

The next is to commit to a set course of action that involves picking low-hanging fruit.

It goes without saying the homeless navigation center along with a community-based game plan to make it work needs to move forward. Money, in this case, is not a mountain that needs to be scaled thanks to the $16 million from the state.

At the same time, a real commitment to build a new police station needs to be made. Not only is the current one woefully inadequate but it is off-the-beaten track. There is also enough fees already collected to fund a large chunk of it while growth will pay off the balance as the years unfold.

It is a need that is 30 years overdue. It adds to the central district. It puts eyes next to the homeless navigation center.  And it opens up space at the Civic Center complex to expand municipal offices as the city grows.

Fourth, a tax measure to address the general fund’s most costly  — and arguably most important — component needs be fashioned.

 Singh’s proposal for a 20-year quarter of a cent increase of the Measure M public safety tax is reasonable given it would end as the Great Wolf room tax sharing deals expires. In doing so it frees up funding to continue covering the 9 additional police officers and 9 additional firefighters a quarter cent hike would allow to be hired. 

The Measure M oversight committee could be charged with crafting a proposal. As a tax, of course, it would still require voter approval.

Do all that and 23 months from now when Manteca voters cast ballots for city leaders there will be:

*A homeless navigation center up and running with the city’s homeless situation stabilizing and shrinking in terms of how it tarnishes the overall quality of life.

*A new police station breaking ground, something that other councils promised and failed to do for 20 years.

*They will have a choice to fund additional officers needed to address traffic concerns and to work more proactively at reducing crime and hire additional firefighters to continue to assure a high level of response when someone’s life hangs in the balance from a medial emergency, accident, or a fire.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com