(September 2) Nearing the end of her first term on the Grand Terrace City Council, Darcy McNaboe is now challenging incumbent mayor Walt Stanckiewicz in the upcoming November election.
McNaboe said she is running “because I want my mayor to represent the city as a good place to live and raise children regardless of the difficult time it is going though. I want  my mayor to represent all residents, even if there is disagreement on issues in the city. I want my mayor to listen to the perspectives of all residents, even if they do not agree with the perspective of the mayor.”
Grand Terrace is the smallest of San Bernardino County’s 24 cities geographically and the third smallest in terms of population. It has faced stiff financial challenges in recent years as city staff has been reduced to fewer than 30. There has been talk of the disincorporation of the city, which would entail it again falling under the jurisdiction of San Bernardino County or being annexed by Colton.
“Our biggest challenge,” McNaboe said, “is financial solvency going forward and our need for other sources of revenue than what we have right now. We have to grow our tax base. We have infrastructure issues. We need storm drains. We need road improvements.”
McNaboe elaborated. “What we need is a strong city manager who understands business attraction and has a strong economic development background and knows how to work with developers who will see our vacant parcel near the freeway as an opportunity to develop it as a whole rather than piecemeal. We need a developer who has that vision so that then we will have a center that attracts regional retailers and in turn visitors to the area as well as customers from our own city. We need to look at it in terms of planned development. This is a potentially nice area that is near the freeway. This would provide us not only retail tax but would increase our property tax revenue when that land is sold and there is development on it. That revenue will come directly to our city. The right development focus could make that happen, but that is a long term goal.”
McNaboe said the city needs to rekindle the flame in the combustion chamber  of its stalled economic engine, which she acknowledged is a daunting task. She said there was some hope in that “The city did issue bonds in 2011. There is now legislation on the governor’s desk that would allow us to use that bond money. If we are not able to do that, we will have to look at grants.gov for grants for infrastructure and the other improvements we need.”
McNaboe, who served on the Grand Terrace Planning Commission before she was elected to the council and was on the Riverside Downtown and Hunters Park Project Redevelopment Agency Committee before she moved to Grand Terrace, said “My experience on the redevelopment area committee and planning commission background give me an understanding of land use that is a basis for me to serve as mayor. I am in the position of investing in our community just like I am trying to have the city’s residents have trust in me. I am involved in the Grand Terrace Lions Club, the Grand Terrace Foundation and the Grand Terrace Women’s Club. On cleanup days I have worked with our soccer league. I believe our community is built on volunteerism, residents getting together and working together instead of being on separate islands. I know that the Lions club, the Women’s Club and the Foundation want to have a good relationship with the city. There is a trust between the organizations but right now there is a barrier between them and the city. I believe I can accomplish things because of my involvement in the community. I have made my home phone number available. I respond when people need my assistance. I return emails. I match people with the right city staff members to resolve their issues. I continue to watch what comes to the council for us to work on. I believe we have professional staff, but have things that come to us that need more consideration. I have a habit of pulling things off the consent calendar to ask more questions.”
McNaboe said, “What it comes down to is when an issue comes before the council, does the person elected to represent the taxpayers think of the taxpayers when they review the item or are they thinking like a staff member?  I want a city that serves the residents. I respect staff, but to me it is my job to serve as a representative of the people to make sure they get their value for their money, their tax money.”
McNaboe attended Chico Senior High School in Northern California obtained a marketing degree and later an MBA from Cal State San Bernardino. She currently owns a firm that does consulting for medium sized businesses in the area of growth, strategic planning, marketing, research and proposals.