‘Let’s get to work:’ Elk Grove swears in Singh-Allen, new council; bids Hume, Nguyen adieu
Elk Grove’s city council was in a celebratory mood. The council chambers on Laguna Springs Drive was filled to standing room. The lobby outside was lined with tables full of cookies, cupcakes and other refreshments.
The scene Wednesday evening gave the hall the folksy air of a school’s open house, all to welcome the council’s freshman class of 2nd District Councilman Rod Brewer and 4th District Councilman Sergio Robles; and greet the second term of Bobbie Singh-Allen, the city’s mayor, and first directly elected Sikh woman in the nation to serve in the role.
“I want to see a united Elk Grove where we work together for the betterment of all people, where everybody has a seat at the table. We want to break down all those political barriers and nonsense that divides people,” Singh-Allen said, her family, regional Sikh community and local elected leaders including state Sen.-elect Angelique Ashby, in attendance. “When we work together, everything is possible. All dreams are welcome here in our city,” Singh-Allen concluded. “So when we dream big, we bring our community along. It’s not about me, it’s about all of you.”
The crowd inside was dotted with the signs of a politically ascendant Elk Grove: newly elected Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper; Pat Hume, the newly elected county supervisor; the newly-elected Assemblywoman Stephanie Nguyen, was away for training; aides for Congressman Ami Bera, his own star on the rise in Washington, D.C., all from Elk Grove.
“If this isn’t government working for Elk Grove, I don’t know what is,” a beaming Robles said, among his first remarks as a council member.
But for all of the celebration, there was also the sense on the dais that the band was breaking up, with Nguyen headed to the state Capitol; Hume to the county offices on downtown Sacramento’s H Street.
Collegial, cooperative and communicative, this was an Elk Grove city council team that actually seemed to enjoy each other’s company while presiding over a city on a prolonged roll: a new civic center, central city park and a new casino; a housing boom, new businesses and a connecting expressway under construction on the edge of town; a still-strong economy that has largely withstood the pandemic; plans for a new regional zoo.
“I’m going to miss us,” said Elk Grove Councilman Kevin Spease. “We’ve had a lot of good work these last years.” If Hume, the city’s longest-serving council member, was the proclaimed brains of the council, then Spease is the one who most wears his heart on his sleeve.
“We talk about friendships and congeniality — that doesn’t happen everywhere,” Hume said in his final remarks as a city councilman. “We all get along with each other. That’s important for a lot of reasons:It sends a message to staff that they can feel empowered to do big things. It sends a message to the community that we can be trusted to do work like adults. It sends a message to the business community. The voters of Elk Grove expressed confidence in this council.”
The latest examples came on Election Day as Singh-Allen won a second two-year term with 65% of the vote.
New council members have experience
Both Brewer in east Elk Grove’s 2nd District and Robles in center-city 4th District won election handily.
Eager, excited, and most important to Elk Grove voters judging by election results, experienced, Brewer and Robles come to the council with the expectation of continuing the city’s forward momentum. Both are known commodities.
Robles served as an Elk Grove planning commissioner during much of the city’s civic building boom.
Brewer comes to the council after 12 years as a director of the Cosumnes Community Services District, which provides fire and recreation services to Elk Grove, Galt and unincorporated south Sacramento County.
“My pledge to all of you, I will work very hard with my colleagues up here to make the city much better than you left it, because it’s what our city deserves and what our city asks of us,” Brewer said by way of introduction from the council dais. “I’ll represent you every day. I’ll be present because District 2 isn’t just where I live. It is my home. Let’s get to work.”
Son of a single mother “who worked hard, worked tough” for $7.25 an hour, Robles told the council chambers that he was “ready to serve.”
“This is what Elk Grove is about. It’s about community. You see here, this room is so diverse. It’s so diverse and I love it,” Robles said. “Each and every one of you have impacted my life. Each one of you have impacted this city. I’m thankful for the opportunity to serve and I’m ready to serve.”
Measure E also passed easily
And Elk Grove residents passed city Measure E — 54% of voters elected to increase the city’s sales tax by a full percentage point to 8.75%, one of the region’s highest. The measure raises some $21.3 million a year in revenue beginning in April to pay for more police, address homelessness and improve roads, streets and parks.
Add that to the annual millions in revenue promised by the Wilton Rancheria with the opening of its Sky River Casino. The tribe pledges to invest $186 million in the city and Sacramento County over the next 20 years to support many of the same targets as the city ballot measure. Elk Grove’s new-look council appears to have the financial resources at hand to tackle the “big things” Hume alluded to in his departing remarks.
“Elk Grove is special,” Singh-Allen said, addressing the two new councilmen. “If you just look around the entire region, the in-fighting, the working in silos and not always getting along. We here in Elk Grove stand to raise that bar for everyone else and I have no doubt that our two new colleagues will continue in that tradition that we’ve established of working together in collaboration. It’s not about ‘me,’ it’s about ‘we.’ We the city. We the people.”
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