Q&A with Atascadero City Council Candidate Susan Funk
Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of Q&A’s for all candidates running for Atascadero City Council.
Atascadero City Council Candidate Q&A with Susan Funk
Where are you from, what is your background?
I was born and raised in Kansas, the daughter of an agricultural engineer and a physical therapist. I have a master of business administration from Stanford and have owned a small business doing management consulting with healthcare businesses for 25 years. My husband and I moved to Atascadero 10 years ago when our son was in fifth grade. He attended San Benito Elementary and Atascadero High School. I’ve served on several boards, raised funds for school groups, and volunteered with the church, and professional and charity groups in Atascadero and other communities where I have lived. Now that my son is in college, I am able and ready to serve Atascadero on the City Council.
Why are you running for city council?
I am running for City Council because I think everyone in our community deserves to have a voice in shaping its future. In the past several years, only one segment of the Atascadero community has been represented on the city council. I intend to represent all the community, especially those whose voices have not been heard.
How would you describe the job description of a City Council member?
The official responsibilities of a council member are to attend council meetings every other week, prepare for those meetings by researching the issues on the agenda, provide oversight of the city manager and city administration and public safety, and represent our city constructively on intergovernmental committees and agencies. But these are just the formal responsibilities. Being a true city leader also involves listening to the hopes, concerns, and ideas of people throughout our community, seeking input on pending issues, and identifying future needs that aren’t on the agenda yet. It means working informally with the Chamber of Commerce, civic groups, the school district, churches, charities, and others to solve problems, recruit businesses and jobs, and help create a better city for all of us.
What do you want to change?
I want our community to have a vibrant downtown that’s the hub of community life. I want the city to be more proactive in solving problems and creating the conditions for people and businesses to succeed. I want people throughout our community to have a real voice in shaping it. That means city leaders l need to reach out and ask people what they want on key issues. It’s not enough to offer a quick comment opportunity and pretend that sufficient input was obtained.
Can you comment on your ideas to solve any of these issues: Homelessness, affordable housing, water conservation, etc.?
All of these are 21st-century challenges our city needs to tackle:
- To address the problem of homelessness, I support and volunteer with ECHO and raise funds for them; that’s vital, but it’s not enough. We need better support for people with addictions or mental health challenges to find shelter for them and help them stay housed and functioning in the community. We need to look seriously at a range of options from tiny homes to other low-cost housing options.
- Atascadero has done more on affordable housing than many communities in the county, but many of our people face high and rising rents. We need to make sure our community’s housing stock is consistent with our full community’s needs so that young people growing up here can find housing they can afford, and seniors don’t have to move because the city lacks services they need. Mixed-use development is a promising strategy: For example, consider an aging strip mall being rebuilt with 3-story buildings that have commercial space on the ground floor and people living on top. This option can offer living spaces that are affordable by design, a ready supply of customers for nearby businesses, and a walkable, enjoyable neighborhood experience.
- Our city needs to make efficient use of water, energy and taxpayer dollars through initiatives such as drought-tolerant landscaping where appropriate. Using solar energy in projects such as wastewater treatment will help to protect taxpayers from future energy cost increases.
How do you plan to involve residents in the decision-making process in our city?
I want the city council to host quarterly forums on key public topics. If the council won’t do this as a public function, I will host these forums myself. Residents and groups need longer advance notice, with specifics, for the city’s annual strategic planning meeting as well as public discussion opportunities on issues such as traffic calming on El Camino Real. I’ll make these a priority. I’ll also reach out to groups and individuals and invite their input in person and online. When major issues are only open for comment with a few days’ notice—and the meeting occurs in the middle of the work-day with no childcare–many people are locked out of the decision-making process. That’s what organizations do when public input is only given lip service. Atascadero deserves better.
How do you represent the whole community?
For the past 10 years, the council and leaders have all been hand-picked or approved by established partisan leaders. I’ve stepped up independently to make sure that other people in Atascadero will also have a voice. My message of more inclusive leadership has resonated with Republicans, Democrats, and Independents who want fresh energy on our city council and are supporting my campaign.
If elected what 3 steps would you take to put our city on a firmer financial footing?
I’ll work actively to create a vibrant downtown, which will help us attract other jobs and businesses, and will be a center of community life
I’ll recruit jobs, especially tech jobs (for which our geography is suitable), so that more people work, shop and dine here, and our young people have opportunities. Instead of waiting for good things to happen, I’ll work to adapt Atascadero’s zoning policies, regulations, and oversight to create the conditions for success, where the success of one business helps nearby businesses to thrive as well.
What are the most important issues to you facing Atascadero?
Our key challenge is to build an economy that is strong enough to support the city we want to become while retaining the small town charm we love. Just being a bedroom community is not enough – that doesn’t create a tax base big enough to maintain our roads and serve our people. The City of Atascadero gets roughly half the tax revenue per person that Paso Robles gets, and roughly a quarter of what SLO gets. Over time, that’s not sustainable, as our roads attest. Our roads crumble, our best public employees are tempted to leave for higher-paying cities, and we can’t build and operate costlier amenities. Fortunately, building a vibrant downtown and attracting the businesses and new jobs Atascadero needs will help create a better community as well as a stronger economic base.
At the outset of my campaign, I conducted a community survey in which people responded about what they like and dislike about Atascadero. A clear picture emerged. We love Atascadero’s small-town feel, its trees, its beautiful spaces, trails, and views. In that survey, people’s comments on what they dislike most about Atascadero often mentioned something they see that it lacks: a thriving downtown, a variety of restaurants, shopping, opportunities and activities for young people, and well-maintained roads.
What have you learned from the past experiences in your life that you will use to succeed in the future?
As a congressional staff member after college, I had to learn about many new issues quickly, so I know how to adapt to new challenges as well as familiar ones. From that experience, I also learned the value of listening to many different perspectives on any given issue to get a fuller picture. I will also use my small business experiences to seek win-win solutions and listen respectfully to everyone. In my business career and in my years of volunteer work, I have worked constructively with people who have a wide range of backgrounds, interests, and views. I have succeeded because I know how to create positive environments where organizations, businesses, and people thrive. My background and my willingness to serve all the people have prepared me to become an effective member of the Atascadero City Council.
