Background Information:

By Richard "Dick" Clark

Candidate background and priorities

I retired two years ago from a career as an electrical engineer and high-tech executive in the Bay Area. My wife and I moved into the Scotts Valley community in 1974. I hold two degrees from Cornell University.

As a member of the board, I try to represent the entire community in all matters that come before the Board, and have used my management experience to help the District achieve and maintain a solid financial position. Working with other boards and the staff, I was instrumental in starting long-range financial planning in the district and an emphasis on actual revenues and costs (and their year-to-year change) rather than just comparing budgets.

In the past ten years the District has been able to add a new fire station to improve responses for residents in the northern end of the district without seeking additional funding; add Paramedic services benefiting all residents; and establish financial reserves sufficient to fund all our equipment purchases without borrowing. Our reserves have also allowed us to weather large cost increases from workers compensation insurance and employee pension funds without having to reduce service to the community.

Coming challenges for the District, where I will make sure the community's needs are served, include:

• Maintaining staffing excellence as we encounter turnover due to retirements. We expect an increasing number of retirements in the next 4 to 6 years.

• Improving our response time into the southern end of the district. This is the reason we are asking voters to pass a bond measure to build a new station.

• Maintaining all services plus an adequate financial reserve in the face of increased costs. We face increased costs every year, and soon will have to develop a workable method of funding the cost of post-employment medical benefits of our retirees. This cost must be absorbed without our needing to reduce services in order to fund it.