Candidate says real estate interests could have too much power in Atwater

The five-seat Atwater City Council could potentially have three members connected to real estate after the Nov. 8 election, but most of the candidates say it’s nothing to worry about.

Incumbent Larry Bergman is a real estate agent and candidate Cindy Vierra works as lender for Realtors. Their opponents are business owner Paul Creighton and retiree Dan Hernandez.

Councilman Brian Raymond, who is not up for election this year, is co-owner of American Realty in Atwater.

Hernandez told the Sun-Star on Monday he’s concerned that three potential votes – Raymond, Bergman and Vierra – would give too much power to Atwater’s real estate industry. While development is good, he said, real estate agents might be too focused on new development and not filling in shuttered buildings.

“With the number of people in real estate on City Council, that’s their objective,” he said.

The council has a history of being weighted too heavily in one direction, he said, pointing to sitting councilmen and retired firefighters Bergman and James Vineyard. Both men were on the council when it approved a controversial firetruck in 2014.

The truck arrived in early 2015 after being a sore subject in Atwater for more than a year. One group criticized using $890,048 from Measure H money – a half-cent sales tax approved by voters for public safety – to pay off the truck over the next 10 years.

The other candidates brushed off Hernandez’s concerns.

Bergman, who retired after 30 years with the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, now works at Coldwell Banker Gonella Realty in Atwater. “When you’re picking your candidate, you have to look at their level of integrity, honesty and sincerity,” he told the Sun-Star on Monday. “That’s what I think it should be based on: How well do you think they’ll do for the city?”

He noted the council recently included three educators at the same time. “To me, it’s irrelevant what business they’re in,” he said.

Bergman has served the past two years with Raymond, who was elected in 2014. Raymond said he hasn’t seen any problems arise during that time, and the city benefits when those in the private sector contribute.

“At the end of the day, as an elected official, I don’t answer to the Board of Realtors. I answer to the people of Atwater,” he said.

Vierra, who is an area manager for Nations Lending, said she does help homebuyers get loans in Atwater, but that is a small part of what she does. She spends most of her time training others.

“I go out throughout California and recruit and hire new branches on board, and then train them, and get them up and running with our company,” she said.

Real estate-related jobs tend to come with a flexible schedule, she said, making the run for public office possible. “I think the way we need to look at it is anybody is allowed to run and campaign and give up their time to be on the City Council,” she said. “I just don’t see it as a bad thing.”

Vierra’s son, Matthew, is a police officer in Atwater. Her son is married to Andy Krotik’s daughter. Krotik, a former Atwater city councilman, works in the same real estate office as Bergman.

Krotik said having representatives with real estate-related backgrounds would benefit the city.

“Nobody seems to care when school boards are full of teachers,” he said.

The owner of P-33 Painting in Atwater, Creighton said he’s not concerned with any perceived imbalance from those related to real estate.

He said it’s important that voters pay attention to what the candidates do and where they work, but said it’s unlikely there will be any issues.

He pointed to Atwater’s difficult economic outlook with a deficit of about $3.6 million.

“(Development’s) what’s going to pull the city out of it,” he said.

This story was originally published October 31, 2016 at 5:38 PM with the headline "Candidate says real estate interests could have too much power in Atwater."