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Friday's Internet Edition, November 21, 2008.
Attorney enters CSD race
Johnson concerned about district’s financial health
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Photo by Laura Bemis
Jimmie Johnson
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By Cameron Macdonald
Staff Writer
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It all started with weeds growing in a large vacant lot where a sports park is planned.
Jimmie Johnson, a neighbor of the future Bartholomew Sports Park, began asking questions.
“There was one day when the weeds were as literally as tall as I was,” he recalled. “I was just wondering, ‘When the heck are they going to cut these stupid weeds?’”
Johnson then asked when the Cosumnes Community Services District (CSD) was going to build the park.
He said that he began researching the CSD and learned that the park was supposed to be built last year but the district did not sign the construction contract until recently.
Johnson later learned that the district lacked sufficient funding for the park project for a long time. He said that the district’s parks budget was based on project future earnings and the housing boom that was expected to last.
“They just kept budgeting for an indefinite future that never materialized,” Johnson said about the CSD board’s finances.
With such concerns, he is running for a seat on the CSD board for the November election.
Incumbent Gil Albiani is running for reelection, while challengers Sandi Russell, Michelle Orrock and Guy Rutter have publicly announced their bids for the election.
If elected, Johnson will make decisions that affect fire and emergency medical services for Elk Grove and Galt, along with parks and recreation programs in Elk Grove.
“When I learned about the CSD problems, I figured that it was a chance for me to get further involved,” he said.
Johnson is currently involved in the community through the city’s commission that is piecing together a plan for the Elk Grove City Council on how to possibly become a charter city.
He is also on the city’s committee that identifies historic buildings for preservation.
Johnson works as an associate attorney for the Sacramento law firm Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, where he mainly aids cities and grassroots organizations in complying with the law while they place measures on ballots and handle campaign contributions and expenditures.
Johnson studied political and computer sciences at Stanford University where he was a wide receiver for their football team. He later studied law at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.
He worked as an extern and law clerk at federal and state courts before he went into private law.
The Bay Area native moved to Elk Grove in 2004 where he saw a “tale of two cities.” He found a separation where Elk Grove has an “established” area east of Highway 99 while Laguna has numerous Bay Area transplants.
“I learned quickly that it was a new city, it was still going through growing pains,” Johnson said. “You can see there were a lot of good ideas where people took stuff from other areas and say, “Let’s start the better way,” instead of learning the better way – I was very impressed.”
Asked about what he will bring to the CSD board if he is elected, Johnson said that he will bring a “private sector view to the board,” and stressed the responsible use of district money and strengthening fire service.
“You have to balance a checkbook, and you can’t base today’s spending on what you hope to be earning five years from now,” he said.
Johnson mentioned the CSD’s deficit, which is more than $50 million and said that more than 20 percent of the fire department’s budget has been cut.
He said that, in the past three years, the CSD board has increased its spending from $63 million to more than $90 million.
“That’s just out-of-control spending,” Johnson said.
He argued that the budget problems could not be entirely blamed on the recent slump in the local housing market.
He said that the CSD board’s spending decisions were based on the notion that Elk Grove’s housing boom would last long and keep the district’s revenue high.
“That’s not the way that you do a budget; you do a budget conservatively based on what you have now, not what you hope that you’ll have in the future,” Johnson said.
He also wants to restore the three fire battalion chief positions that were eliminated earlier this year, saying that CSD’s geographical size is too large for one on-duty battalion chief to handle at one time.
Johnson said that he also wants to work with the fire department on its future capital improvement projects on what projects are crucial and which of them can wait.
He praised the formation of the Cosumnes CSD when the Elk Grove CSD merged with the Galt Fire Protection District in 2006, saying that move had improve fire services and resources for Galt.
However, Johnson also noted the CSD’s conflict with the city of Galt over providing funding for local fire services, and said that he desires to work with the city and reach a mutual agreement with them.
As for his campaign, Johnson wants to personally meet many residents and tell them about what he stands for.
“It’s basically going to be a grassroots, hit-the-pavement (effort),” he said.
Johnson later mentioned, “You can send a thousand mailers, but words are just words – people understand what you really mean when they actually see you talk.”
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