(September 4)  Chuck Valvo is seeking reelection to the Adelanto City Council in November.
The city of 31,765 finds itself in something of a fix, having declared a fiscal state of emergency 14 months ago and city officials decrying the fact that city residents are unwilling to impose on themselves some form of taxing arrangement that will help stave off what the city’s finance director says is a likely bankruptcy.
Despite the frustration inherent in the situation, Valvo said he wants to remain in office.
“We’re working ont the situation, trying to get the city in better shape. I’ve always been attracted to challenges,” he said.
Valvo said the city’s problem isn’t all that complicated.
“We are running out of money, as everybody knows. We are trying to find ways of getting more money into the city and improving our image.”
Valvo said he had no magic bullet to cure the city’s financial woes.
“It is a team effort, not single lone ranger attitude that I have,” he said. “Someone tried that a while back and it didn’t work. I’m working with the members of the city council. I’d like to contribute to the ideas that everyone is trying to come up with to improve the city.”
Valvo said he was reluctant to differentiate himself from the other candidates in the race or get into why he thinks he represents a better choice for council than them. Also in the race is former councilman and mayor Charlie Glasper, who was thrown out by voters two years ago. Valvo said he didn’t want to say anything to offend Glasper.
“One of the former members of the city government is running against me and I’m trying to avoid verbal attacks,” he told the Sentinel.
Of his qualifications to hold the office, Valvo merely said, “Having the experience of going through these things that are happening recently is a plus, I think. You don’t have to go too far back to see what went wrong before and what is causing us trouble now. I’m working on a couple of ideas. It is more of a case that we are looking for other sources of income so we don’t end up where we are headed.”
Valvo went to high school in Los Angeles and took some classes at El Camino College. He worked in the aerospace industry, directly for Boeing an Air Research as well as serving as a contract employee with Northrup and Raytheon.