Valentin Godina says he is running for city council in Victorville “because I see a communication gap between city council members themselves as well with the voters of Victorville.”

Valentin Godina

His is a proven track record of community service and helpfulness in other venues, Godina said, and he feels he can impart the same ethos to elected office.
“I believe I am qualified because for over 30 years of living in Victorville, volunteering my time for the betterment of our city, I have worked to create an after-school music program for our children,” he said. “I have sought to provide our at-risk youth with an opportunity that would otherwise have not been open to them, to help them to achieve higher levels of education. I have worked with the homeless and various church organizations that bring support and services to those in our community who most need them.” He said he can be more effective in such efforts from a position on the city council.
“What distinguishes me from my opponents is the wisdom of common sense and age through life experiences of working every day, eight hours, plus driving up and down the hill [i.e., the Cajon Pass],” he said. “I have a pretty good sense of what it is to have to spend a good part of my life on the road, going to work and coming back home. Instead of building more homes in the High Desert, we could use that same strategy to build areas for companies and corporations to move up here and create jobs for our community so we can work near our homes and be near our families, like it should be.”
Godina said he believes the bickering on the current council between a councilwoman  on one side and the remaining council members and the mayor on the other is doing a disservice to the city’s residents.
Godina said, “What I consider to be a major issue in our city is the lack of communication and willingness to work together as a team. Nobody on the city council will accept any responsibility for what’s going on with their city. They want to point fingers at one council member, accusing that council member of being the whole problem. That makes no sense. You can equate it to a baseball team or any team, for that matter. One team member does not win or lose the game. I believe these issues can be readily addressed. I am reminding every city council member of the oath they took to serve in the best interest of our community and not to serve their personal egos. I am calling upon the voters in the community to remind them of that as well.”
The city’s problem with the lack of communication among its members can be overcome with practically no expense at all, Godina said.
“This is not an expensive item,” he said. “You need to have civil servants understand that they are the solution and that’s why they were vested into the positions that they’re now holding, so either they comply or they move out of the way for the benefit of the city. This is the kind of communication they need to understand, and they need to hear that from the voters.”
Godina comes from the private sector and has not worked previously in government, which, he said, can be seen as a positive rather than a negative.
“Having government experience to hold this office is not absolutely necessary when you have common sense and an unwavering sense of direction,” he said.
He has embodied the community of Victorville for three decades, Godina said.
“I have lived in Victorville for approximately 30 years,” he said. “My wife and I raised 12 children, six of her own and six adopted.”
Godina grew up in Southern California, attending high school in South El Monte. “I went to Phoenix, Arizona to a diesel technical school to learn the profession of being a diesel mechanic. I came back home to South El Monte and attended Rio Hondo College in Whittier, where I pursued a general line of education. In addition to all of this, as a Teamster of Local 495, I was a shop steward and represented over 300 employees and participated in a contract negotiation which was very favorable do our union brothers.”
Pointing out that “I have been retired for the past four years,” Godina said he now has the time, energy, health, focus and desire to serve, and serve well, on the city council.
He is dependable and steady and can prove it, Godina said. “I have been married to the same woman for over 35 years and currently have eight grandchildren,” he said.
-M.G.