Mayor Simmons Bringing Back "Conversations with the Mayor"

After being sworn in as Walnut Creek’s new mayor on Tuesday, Bob Simmons is already embarking on plans to increase the City Council’s outreach to residents for the yearlong term ahead.

Simmons, a former attorney for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is starting his second term as mayor in the past three years and has served on the City Council since 2008.

The new mayor said he plans to bring back two programs from his last mayoral turn -- a series of “Conversations with the Mayor” in which residents get a chance to ask him questions in an informal setting and “Walnut Creek Walks,” where he invites residents to walk with him through different parts of the city.

“People can come in and talk about their concerns or ask questions and I will be there mostly in a listening mode and will try to answer to the best of my ability,” Simmons said of the conversation series.

A lot of the concerns brought to the City Council recently revolve around traffic, parking and other impacts from the many construction projects that have sprung up in Walnut Creek, especially downtown, he said.

“We’ve heard the concerns and we’re trying to respond,” he said. “We want to make sure we’re listening -- to me that’s part of what government should do.”

Simmons said he hopes to give residents an overview of some of the major residential and commercial developments downtown during the first in a series of Walnut Creek Walks planned next year, set for Jan. 10.

Anyone interested in joining that walk or future treks with the mayor can sign up online at www.walnut-creek.orgwalks.

Also sworn in to the City Council during Tuesday night’s meeting were longtime city resident and retired attorney Rich Carlston and two-term City Councilwoman and former mayor Cindy Silva.

The Council voted in August to eschew an election and to appoint the two candidates since both were planning to run unopposed and Carlston had gathered the needed number of signatures to qualify for the ballot, city spokeswoman Gayle Vassar said.

The city saved about $55,000 by forgoing the election, Vassar said.

The council also voted to appoint first-term City Councilwoman Loella Haskew as Mayor Pro Tem, the equivalent of a vice mayor.

Mayor Kristina Lawson stepped down after deciding not to run for a second term.

--Bay City News

--Image via City of Walnut Creek