California citizens are set to elect a new mayor for the first time in two decades in the upcoming April 6 municipal election.
Luckily, the candidates on the ballot - Moniteau County Sheriff's deputy Aaron Bishop and retiree Rich Green - have expressed detailed visions for wide-ranging aspects of the city's operations, from law enforcement to economic development.
Green originally hails from Kansas, having also spent some time living in New Orleans, Louisiana and Dallas, Texas - and even overseas - across his career in the oil and gas industry. He earned his Bachelor's degree in geology from Kansas State University. He and his wife, Pam, moved to California part-time in 2002, restoring the Eitzen Mansion; the pair has since been steadily involved in the community with groups like California Progress, Inc. They'd move to California in full-time in 2010, when Green originally planned to retire. He'd instead spend nearly another decade working on a project in Italy, splitting time in and out of the country from 2011-19. The company ceased operations in 2019, paving the way for Green's official retirement in 2020 and his current mayoral campaign.
Bishop is a lifelong resident of California, graduating from California High School in 1999. He's also on the verge of graduating from Columbia College with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. Bishop is a former corporal in the United States Marine Corps, where he said he first gained strong leadership skills. Bishop has worked in law enforcement for the past 15 years and also currently serves as senior manager with Guarded Exchange, which he's been with for around a decade.
"The spirit of the Marine Corps leadership is honor, courage and commitment, and that's exactly the leadership traits our citizens will have in me," Bishop said. "I also believe as a law enforcement with those 15 years of experience that being a servant is important; I feel like whoever wants to become a leader must first become a servant. Throughout my career, through the Marine Corps, through law enforcement, my heart's always been in serving our country and this community, and having the passion for our citizens is an important trait to me."
Green decided he wanted to run because he thought he could help the community, he said. Bishop, meanwhile, said his motivations for running lie in giving the citizens of California a voice to input guidance and support for any decisions the municipal government may consider making.
What the pair agrees upon is implementing new leadership styles; for Bishop, style rooted in input from the general public, and for Green, a management style that seeks to empower city employees to do their jobs well.
"That's always how I've managed people; you give them the responsibility, you give them the authority, and you hold them responsible to get the job done effectively," Green said. "If they don't get the job done, it's on them. You trust the people to do their job, and the supervisors I've met, the aldermen I've met, they're good people. I think California's been blessed to have some pretty good government."
As far as goals are concerned, the pair have some similarities in the areas they'd like to tackle if elected. Bishop and Green expressed a desire to implement policies that will attract people to live and work in California, and to provide strong support for local businesses. Both candidates also expressed their desire to help the California Police Department rebuild and find more steady footing; Bishop said there's currently a "heavy burden" on the department based on its current staffing.
More broadly, Bishop said he wants to ensure every decision made is in the best interest of the community - that will come through transparent and well-managed leadership and by meeting and exceeding the needs of California's citizens, he said. Some of the changes that would help with these goals, he said, would include livestreaming meetings to allow for better public accessibility, implementing recruitment and retention policies for the CPD, and hiring additional full-time employees for the California Fire Department to help reduce response time and provide better service.
All in all, Bishop said he wants his focus to be on the citizens, not him.
"I'm running because I'm committed to representing them," Bishop said. "That's my biggest thing here; this is definitely not from a perspective of self-serving or anything of that nature. I chose to put my name on that ballot so I could represent our citizens."
From Green's end, he wants to establish an understanding of California's city limits, potentially revisiting what does and doesn't lie within city limits to better reflect the city's growth and positioning of surrounding highways. That plays into one of Green's broader ideas - readying California for future growth. He said he wants to work with California's existing industries to bolster them, and to work to bring in new businesses, spitballing ideas from new restaurants to a hotel.
"I don't want to say 'If you build it, they will come,' but it's true," Green said. "If you put in the basis for growth, growth happens. Entrepreneurs see, 'Yeah, this will work.' And they want to be here."
Both candidates expressed a strong desire to see California voters engaged in the civic process; they both cited low turnouts in past municipal elections, hoping that this time around citizens will come out to vote in higher numbers so they'll have a voice in who is elected. Green said he hopes for a record turnout.
There will be plenty of opportunities for California voters to get to know the candidates in the month leading up to the election, as Bishop and Green said they plan to spend time having their own conversations with voters, whether by going door-to-door or via meet and greets like Green plans to host later this month. There's also a candidate forum, co-sponsored by Moniteau County's Republican and Democrat Clubs, set for 7-8:30 p.m. March 15 at the Finke Theatre.
The municipal election is set for April 6.