(October 4) After what is approaching a dozen years on the Apple Valley Town Council, including two periods as appointed mayor, Scott Nassiff is looking to be reelected to a fourth term, and is attempting to stand down charges that he represents a past-its-prime and out-of-touch status quo in the town of 69.135.
Nassiff and two other incumbents, Curt Emick and Barb Stanton, are facing challenges from Tom Piper, Richard Bunck, former mayor and councilman Rick Roelle and Sal Lopez-Ortiz. Piper and Bunck, in particular, have suggested the current council represents the town’s wealthy elite but has given short shrift to the majority of the town’s working class residents.
Nassiff sloughed off that criticism.
“We’ve got a lot accomplished over the last few years,” Nassiff said of the town under his leadership. “We’ve been really focused on quality of life issues. We have the long-awaited Yucca Loma Bridge half built. We have reduced crime. Graffiti has been cut in half of what it was a few years ago. We’ve added three million square feet of retail space over the last ten years. We are expanding public service programs. We have never had an unbalanced budget while I have been in office. The town has been very fiscally responsible. I want to continue that as well as continue toward our other goals. I am concerned with the exorbitant water rates our citizens pay. We have a private water company in town. In Apple Valley the water rates are 112 percent higher than they were ten years ago. They are 139 percent higher than they are in Hesperia and 89 percent higher than in Victorville. Both of those cities have municipal water districts. We need to get our own municipal water division so we can control our rates and infrastructure. Right now a private company has control over rates and the investment in infrastructure expansion in the water system. This is obviously affecting our community. We have started to address this. Currently, we are trying to purchase Park Water, which is owned by the Carlisle Group, an international investment consortium. We are trying to figure out a way we can come into owning our portion of the water district. It is a complicated scenario. We are working diligently to try to do that. We want to be a player in the water arena. We think that is a solution. We have been letting them know we are interested in purchasing the water company. As a team, we need to continue to work on that.”
Among the major challenges facing Apple Valley, Nassiff said, is “continuing to provide services while the state and federal governments take funds from us. Another challenge on the horizon in and around the Victor Valley are the planned wind farms encroaching on some of Apple Valley’s sphere of influence and threatening some of our most precious natural resources. I am concerned about their impact on our quality of life and the environment. In the past, there were wind farms proposed on Granite Mountain east of Apple Valley and we were effective in stopping those. If they had gone up they would have had an enormous impact on the community. We need to stay ahead of the curve on that, as well.”
Nassiff said he merits being reelected because of “my experience and what I have done on the town council. I have experience in working with leaders from other communities and with state and federal officials. I have made contact with and built up trust with a lot of other leaders at the state and local level. I have a track record of making things get done and not just talking about it. I have been in business 38 years. I employ 67 people. I run four auto parts stores. My experience in running a private corporation brings that skill set to the council. Over the years, I have learned to work with my colleagues to accomplish things and not create a stalemate, how to come to a consensus and get things done. I want to continue doing that.”
Prior to being elected to the council, Nassiff was on the Apple Valley Fire Board for five years. He grew up in Apple Valley and graduated from Apple Valley High School. He attended Victor Valley College. He is married, with two children.