UKIAH, CA., 10/11/26 — Three out of eight Ukiah City Council candidates on the ballot for the November general election participated in a debate hosted by local organization Mendo Matters.
Tom Allman, current Willits mayor and former Mendocino County sheriff, moderated the debate. Robert Bazzani, John Strangio and Matt Froneberger were the three candidates who participated.
The debate began with introductions from each candidate, followed by a series of questions, sometimes with follow-up or repeated questions when a candidate was vague or didn’t answer the question directly.
The first question was about the city’s debt and what candidates would want to know before approving more debt.
“With 184.6 million dollars in long-term financial obligation and significant annual debt service costs,” Allman asked the candidates, “does that level of debt concern you? What would you want to understand about the city’s financial position before voting to approve any new debt or major spending?”
Strangio said the debt was concerning, and in his business practices, he tries to keep debt to a minimum.
“When it comes to spending money and future expenses, I think that any debt needs to be considered before we make any additional fiscal expenditures,” Strangio said. “I do understand that sometimes we do need to go into debt to make future expansions to build upon our business, but I don’t agree with continuing to outspend what we bring in.”
Froneberger also said the level of debt was concerning and said he would want to know more about the practicality of further borrowing.
“Prior to making expenditures, my first round would be how much is it? What does it bring to the city or the citizens? Can we afford it?” Froneberger said. “Can we do without it right now? What is the potential and the ROI on this situation? How long will it take us to pay this off?”
Bazzani said he thought Ukiah’s debt was $40 million more than it is. He said debt is not always bad, depending on if the borrowing was worthwhile.
“I don’t believe debt is automatically bad. The question is whether we’re getting something worthwhile for that debt, and whether we can afford the entire commitment,” Bazzani said.
“Before I support new borrowing, I want to know the interest rate payment schedule, where the money comes from to pay it back, and what the project will cost to operate and maintain over its lifetime. I also want to know what happens if our revenue projections don’t happen. I’m a small business owner, and I don’t just ask if I can afford the first payment. I ask if I can afford the entire commitment. I think government should do the same.”
Allman asked the candidates:
“Before asking residents and businesses to pay higher taxes, fees, or utility rates, what should the city be required to demonstrate about its own spending and financial management?”
Bazzani answered:
“I think every fee deserves a second look. I’m not going to promise that every fee can simply disappear because government still has to provide services. But before asking residents and businesses for more money, I want to know where they’re spending it at now, what the services actually cost, and whether there’s a more efficient way to provide it,” Bazzani said. “Government should feel the same pressure to control costs that families and small businesses do.”
Strangio answered:
“One thing the city does do, and I think it is very common in municipalities, is they have a use it or lose it style of budget. Where if you’re not using it, you actually end up losing that budget in that department,” Strangio said. “And I think that we need to work with our department heads and focus on what the department has to figure out where we can be spending our budgets a little tighter. Where we can save, and assuring them that if they save those funds, they don’t just go away. It’s not going to just magically disappear, and it’s not going to reduce their funds in the future. But we can actually use those funds and carry them over with their budgets.”
Froneberger answered:
“What would need to be done is that there would need to be a proven need for the increases. The staff that is asking for the fee increase or for the license increase needs to have hard numbers showing that the work that’s being done is actually costing you as much as they’re asking,” Froneberger said. “But at the same time, they need to be looking for new technologies and/or efficiencies to stretch out the dollars that they have. Will this cost more staff time or can staff time be combined with other with other items to reduce this this need for an increase?”