By PETE SHEEHEYDemocratic Candidate
Los Alamos County Council
This is my 30th year in this town, where I have lived and worked as a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, first a single person, then married with a family, and now as a retired person. Personally, I’ve lived a lot of the American dream here: stimulating work with good pay in a beautiful environment. The town and Lab have gone through some ups and downs in those 30 years, but Los Alamos is still a good place to call home. I think we can make it even better.
I have worked on the Council for a balanced approach: keep our spending within reasonable limits, and yet go ahead with needed investments in infrastructure, education, economic development, and recreational facilities. There’s a new generation of people coming to work here, and they see a lot of the same things I saw when I first came: a healthy and beautiful environment, challenging work, and friendly, interesting people. County government’s investments should help ensure that our community has the opportunities and amenities that are inviting to newcomers, and provides good services for all.
Because I’m retired, I have the time and energy to give to the job and continue to learn about the issues affecting our town. That means not only reading the Council meeting agenda packets, which sometimes run hundreds of pages, but listening to the many informed citizens of this town, and doing my own research. For instance, I published a long article in the Los Alamos Daily Post and Monitor about our county’s water supply (www.petesheehey.com/statement15.html), which has contributed to the Council and community’s awareness of water issues. I have also been active with community and regional groups, such as serving on the board of the North Central Regional Transit District (NCRTD).
There are four areas I will continue to focus on: communication, prioritization, sustainability, and fiscal responsibility. Communication means listening, and telling people honestly and clearly what our issues and choices are. Prioritization means making good, hard choices on what we can afford to do today, and what we should wait to do in the future.
Sustainability is not just about how we use our natural resources, but about using all our resources wisely. Because the county owns its own utilities, we will be making important decisions on electrical power generation and other issues. I support transitioning to less polluting, more renewable energy generation and county operations, which if done right will save us money in the long term.
Fiscal responsibility means spending our money efficiently. Tax revenues spent wisely will pay off for all of us. Los Alamos will remain a prosperous town, even with frequent uncertainties of Lab contracts and budgets. We will be able to afford the important things for our community, as long as we make good choices.
County government must continually earn people’s trust if support for such investments is expected. That trust is earned when everyone in county government does business with integrity and treats all people with respect. The Council should not micro-manage county operations, but it must oversee operations diligently.
I knocked on many doors in 2012, asking people what they think about County Government. I will be happy to share my ideas, and continue to listen, in the coming campaign. To see more of my ideas and record, I invite people to visit my website, www.petesheehey.com.
Editor’s Note: Columns on each of the candidates running in the June Primary Election will be featured in the Los Alamos Daily Post print edition and online during the next few weeks.