Supervisor Silveira seeks third term while advocating for efficiency, services

This has always been a great time of year for Scott Silveira.

The Merced County Spring Fair in Los Banos is just around the corner — April 29 to May 3.

As a Los Banos native born into a family of farmers, he showed animals at the fair as a youngster studying agriculture. He later found his voice — and some quick math skills — as a fair livestock auctioneer. Then he was invited to serve on the Fair Board. And now as a county supervisor, he helps appoint others to a leadership role for the Westside tradition.

Of course, Supervisor Silveira will be at the fair again this year working on things and talking with folks. But what may be a little different is that this is an election year, and he is running for re-election. So it’s a sure thing he’ll run into voters, and no doubt spend time explaining the work that he does on a daily basis.

“The county provides a lot of services,” Silveira points out. “The problem is, we’re so busy doing the work that we forget to remind people of all the good services we provide. … And you forget to tell people about all the work you have been doing.

“I come into this now with nearly eight years of experience on the Board of Supervisors,” he continues. “I don’t know everything, but I’ve always been good about surrounding myself with resources and people in key positions that can get things done, and get me information, so that I can respond back to my constituents. I tell them, ‘Listen, I’m your advocate. I don’t work for Merced County, I work for you. I have 58,000 bosses. That’s my district’s portion of the county’s population. They can come to me. I will meet with anybody.

I know that there’s people out there that might not agree with me on stuff, but I will still meet with them because I want to hear their perspective. So I feel like that’s what I bring to the table. I know my district better than anybody. I know the struggles of Dos Palos. I know the struggles of Los Banos. I’ve worked really hard to maintain relationships with both City Councils in the district. … I listen to everybody, and I make decisions with the best information I have at the time, and based on what is going to benefit the majority of residents.”

The 48-year-old incumbent is running for a third term as the District 5 representative on the Merced County Board of Supervisors. District 5 represents the cities of Dos Palos and Los Banos, along with the Dos Palos Y, Midway, South Dos Palos, and Volta. Silveira faces one challenger, Miguel Alejandre, a Los Banos business owner and political newcomer. The race will be decided in the June 2 Primary Election.

Silveira says he is delivering results for his Westside district on ways for fixing roads, building parks, improving neighborhoods, supporting public safety and securing clean, reliable water systems.

Among the projects he has worked on:

• District 5 roads are finally getting their fair share of funding, he says, and key projects were selected as part of the county’s recent $31.9 million road rehabilitation project.

• Renovations to the Del Hale Hall Community Center and the addition of a new public library at O’Banion Park, both in Dos Palos.

• A new Dos Palos water treatment plant.

• Funding 80 new sheriff deputy positions and keeping two important fire stations open when funding cuts threatened to close them both.

• Improvement of the Merced County permit efficiency process, and working with the local agricultural industry to facilitate growth and development for ag businesses operating in seasonal cycles.

Going forward, Silveira says he would like to see a lot of the services currently being offered through the main County Administration Building in Merced to be replicated on the Westside so that residents there don’t have to travel so much to receive services.

For example, county officials have been conducting a pilot program for a mobile passport application service for Westside residents. Silveira would like to see an expansion of that for things like birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, and the like.

“We have a lot of services that we offer through the Human Services Agency, Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, and Public Health — and all these different entities have offices in Los Banos, but we don’t necessarily own those facilities. We pay a lot of money for leased spaces. So how do we build something where we can have a government center in Los Banos that collocates all those services in one place, and not pay rent to somebody else. It’s going to come at a cost. I understand that. … But in reality, this is a priority as the Westside grows.”

Supervisor Silveira has built a reputation on the Board of Supervisors for crunching budget numbers, seeking out efficiencies in bids and contracts, and making sure projects start out clear and solid to avoid costly change orders in the development process.

“I think I’m being generous when I tell you, with a straight face, that we spend 10 percent due to waste and inefficiency. And I’m being very generous with that number. … But we’re trying to change a culture right? And that takes time, and I feel like we’ve made strides at it.”

Silveira says that bringing a private business perspective to county government sometimes means challenging g department heads to get a better deal from service contracts.

“You can’t run a government like a business. It’s impossible. But what you can do is you can bring business principles to the way you run it, right? We pay people good money for services. I want to feel the love back.”

Some of the challenges the supervisor envisions for the near future include declining revenues from property taxes in some areas due to a drop in farmland values as an effect of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).

“I feel like our local discretionary monies are starting to shrink a bit, and we have to be prepared,” he says.

Like others in the Public Health and Behavioral Health sectors, Silveira believes new HR1 rule changes with regard to indigent health care will also pose ongoing problems for established county programs, while also putting a strain on the county’s discretionary General Fund dollars of which a lot goes toward public safety.

“There’s just so many unknowns,” he says. “The California State Association of Counties is trying to work with all the county networks. Whether it’s child welfare directors, behavioral health, public health — all the different entities that this is going to affect. They’re trying to come up with the numbers that it’s going to cost counties. Well, they tell you between $6 and $9 1/2 billion a year is what it’s going to cost. That’s a big swing. But because there’s so much unknown on what it is — and then the other thing with HR1 — none of it is just a clean ‘on this date everything changes.’  It was designed in a way where some things go into effect immediately, and then other things, other parts of it, don’t go in effect until a year, or a year and a half later. You don’t really know. And then the other piece where you’re getting a lot of frustration from counties is that they’re supposed to design guidance that comes out with it, and they haven’t done that yet.”

When Supervisor Silveira isn’t making the long commute to the Merced for regular meetings at the County Administration Building, or hosting stakeholder meetings in his district, or navigating a myriad of other government duties, he shares family life with his wife, Brooke, a teacher at Grasslands Elementary in Los Banos.

The two met way back at Dos Palos High School. They eventually married and raised two children who are now in their early 20s.

Scott Silveira has also served on the Merced County LAFCO Commission, the MercedCERA Board of Retirement, and the Los Banos City Council. He was also a volunteer fireman for over 20 years, including time as a volunteer fire chief.

He describes his current job on the Board of Supervisors as a non-stop, 24-hour position.

“I know I’m getting a good salary, but I don’t want anybody to be able to say they’re not getting a good return on their investment. … I don’t go anywhere — whether it’s a social function, or if it’s just my wife and I going out to dinner —  I can promise you … that I go nowhere, at least in my district, where I’m not talking with somebody worried about potholes, or some other county issue that needs attention.”

--Jonathan Whitaker, Editor in Chief of Mid Valley Publications, overseeing the Merced County Times and Atwater-Winton Times. You can reach him directly at 209.580.9625, at our Merced office at 2221 K Street (209.383.0433), or by email at MercedCountyTimes@gmail.com.