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Galt City Councilman Rick Stancil stands outside City Hall on Monday. Tonight will be Stancil's last regular council meeting. (Gena Lindsay/News-Sentinel)
Stancil was quiet, yet he made waves on Galt City Council
Rick Stancil is by far the quietest of the five Galt City Council members, but he has experienced his share of controversy.
After almost three years on the City Council, Stancil will attend his last council meeting tonight unless a special session is called before Dec. 7. He chose not to seek a second term this year.
Stancil, 39, is Galt's counterpart to Gerald Ford, the only president who has never been elected president or vice president. An unabashed slow-growth advocate, Stancil was never elected to the City Council, which drew critics far and wide.
Stancil was appointed to the City Council on Jan. 29, 2002 to replace Mayor Tony Gora, who died three weeks earlier.
With only three council members in office at the time (Christina De La Cruz's seat remained vacant until a replacement was elected in March 2002), the council appointed Stancil by a 2-0 vote after two other motions had failed.
Stancil was one of seven people to apply for Gora's seat. The others were present Galt Mayor Darryl Clare, Tom Malson, Steve Denton, David Gibbons, Lori Heuer and Teresa Pearson.
Kraude moved that Clare be appointed, but Raboy refused to second the motion for what he said was out of respect for Gora, who didn't support Clare. Raboy nominated Heuer, but Kraude refused to second the motion. As a Galt High business teacher, Kraude said he didn't like Heuer's service on the school board from 1996 to 2000.
Kraude and Raboy then agreed on Stancil to complete the final three years of Gora's term. The third member of the City Council at the time, Dan Pillsbury, who opposed the appointment, boycotted the meeting and stayed home.
"People thought I had connections with Tim and Bob and Tony, but nothing could be further from the truth," said Stancil, who served on the Planning Commission at the time.
Residents, many of them moderate-growth advocates with the Galt District Chamber of Commerce, complained about Stancil's selection, especially since only two council members voted.
A slow-growth advocate
Stancil's staunch slow-growth positions made him a political adversary of residents who wanted some growth in Galt. The most vocal of the political adversaries was the chamber.
Later in 2002, a group of Galt residents led by Dick Smith attempted to recall Stancil and Raboy over their slow-growth policies and their support to condemn 180 acres from the Sacramento Catholic Diocese for sewage disposal.
However, the recall effort fell through because the group didn't meet deadlines set by Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections officials.
While Stancil never ran for office, he's observed his share of acrimonious debates and City Council races.
"We all have to live together; it's a small town," Stancil said. "We need to be able to discuss these issues and not take them personally."
Chamber chairwoman Barbara Smith agrees.
"That (conflict) is one thing we've never understood," Smith said. "Ultimately, I contend that we want the same thing. We want to maintain Galt's small-town quality of life."
Stancil maintains there is nothing wrong with growth -- in fact, he thinks Galt grew well in the 1990s -- but the questions are what kind of growth, how quickly that growth takes place and how to address traffic, crime and crowded schools.
"How do you keep a good thing going? How do you avoid a suburban nightmare?" Stancil asked.
Seniors rankled
Although he has been a quiet voice on the City Council, Stancil may be best remembered for a 12-minute speech he gave on July 16, 2002, when he raised several issues about the Del Webb senior project proposed near Twin Cities and Christensen roads.
Although some of the questions were growth-related, others were targeted at seniors including remarks that they would require medical services that Galt doesn't have, add traffic on Twin Cities Road, vote against needed school bonds and create a voting block that could possibly dominate future City Councils.
"I raised a lot of issues, and I was immediately attacked," Stancil recalled.
The next council meeting after Stancil's remarks produced a long line of critics from seniors who objected to his characterization of them along with supporters of the proposed Del Webb senior complex on Twin Cities Road.
But the outgoing councilman maintains that Twin Cities Road is a poor location for a 2,600-home senior project when the same land might be needed for sewage disposal. The property is also in what is now an isolated area near Galt.
And Stancil says he has no problems with seniors themselves.
"I have so many seniors in my life that I have good relations with," he said.
Raboy said that Stancil was valuable while supporting the condemnation of 180 acres on Twin Cities Road in 2002 to comply with state sewage disposal requirements.
Stancil's teaching background has helped during regular City Council meetings and in closed sessions, Raboy said.
"I think he made a real good contribution," Raboy said. "I think it's real important to have a voice of controlled growth. I'm hoping he will consider running (for council) one day."
But not now.
Leaving the council
"For me, it's time -- time with my kids, time fixing the house," Stancil said.
A government and world history teacher at Florin High School in South Sacramento, Stancil said his family keeps him busy, and he'd like to have his weekends to himself.
Instead of scouring up to 200 pages of staff reports the weekend before a council meeting, Stancil wants to spend more time with his wife, Lindsey, and sons Chad, 11, and Cole, 7, who are very active.
"We go from water skiing to paintball to baseball to soccer," he said. "Now it's karate."
Stancil said that one of his goals once he leaves the City Council is to get more Galt residents involved in city politics. He has a slogan on his classroom wall that says, "Your ignorance is their power."
Stancil especially wants younger people -- those in their 30s like himself -- to become involved in city politics at the grass-roots level.
Stancil grew up in Thornton and graduated from Galt High School in 1983. He has an associate of arts in business from San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton and a bachelor's degree in social science from California State University, Sacramento.
He has taught American government and world history at Florin High School the past 14 years. He has used his knowledge gained from City Council service into the classroom, especially during his unit on local government.
"I enjoyed being there (on the council)," Stancil said. "As a teacher, we're lifelong learners."
Today's Galt City Council meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 380 Civic Drive.
Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.
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