Payne loves her town: Galt city councilwoman relishes her job

While campaigning for her Galt City Council seat in the fall of 2004, Barbara Payne walked up to a grumpy man working on his car in front of his house to ask for his vote.

"OK lady, I'll vote for you," he said. "Just make a difference."

Payne set out to do just that.

Right after winning one of two available council seats a year ago, Payne found herself all over City Hall and meeting with school officials and other key people.

Before you knew it, she began questioning various city operations while trying to give Galt a big-time self-esteem boost with her program, "I Love My Town."

That mushroomed into several subgroups, including a teen council, "I Love My Neighborhood," "I Love My Park," "I Love My Church," "I Love My Library" and even "I Love Myself" programs.

"I kind of classify her as a 'Wonder Woman' type of person," said 15-year Galt resident Al Baldwin. "She comes up with a lot of surprises."

She'll question why things are done at City Hall. For example, in her second meeting on the council, she questioned why employees should get pay raises if there aren't enough police officers.

And, in her first year on the City Council, Payne's "I Love My Town" campaign has resulted in a host of neighborhood and park parties to celebrate Galt as a community, get residents to meet their neighbors and be on the lookout in the event of crime.

Bringing a woman's touch

Payne, 63, is the first woman on the Galt City Council since Christina De La Cruz resigned in 2001 and moved to San Antonio, Texas. Payne relishes her role and thinks that adding a woman's touch has been an asset to the council.

"I'm involved with the people and their problems," Payne said. "Maybe it's the motherly side of caring about the people.

"Can you imagine a man thinking of 'I Love My Town,' or riding around in a red Volkswagen with big hearts on it?" Payne asked.

Mayor Darryl Clare responded, "Certainly, she is the only one who thought of it. Man or woman, she deserves the credit for 'I Love my Town.'"

Payne decided to run for the council last year after the Galt District Chamber of Commerce asked her to run.

Goals for 2006

As for 2006, Councilwoman Barbara Payne has a rather ambitious agenda. It includes:
• Having city officials appear at locations throughout the community to talk to residents. One example would be the parking lot at Raley's on Twin Cities Road.
• Basing employee raises on merit rather than longevity.
• Continuing efforts to make it safer for students to go to and from school.
• Increase participation in Neighborhood Watch and the police volunteer program.
• Continue "I Love My Town" program.
-- News-Sentinel staff

"I was in Texas — in the attic of my daughter's house fixing a pipe — when they called," she said of chamber members. "They were looking for a successful woman with a business."

Payne has owned the Olde Towne Gift Shoppe at Fourth and C streets for seven years. She was also a residential construction superintendent for 20 years in California and Texas, retiring from that position in 2004. Her final 10 years were with Winncrest Homes, and her final subdivision was in the Bruceville Road-Franklin Boulevard area of Elk Grove.

Payne says she has transferred the problem-solving skills she acquired as a construction superintendent to the City Council.

Changing priorities

In running for the City Council last year, Payne said she changed her priorities twice.

First, her thrust was to promote Galt's Oldtown enough to make it look like Sutter Creek or downtown Lodi's School Street.

Then her concern for Oldtown evolved into stimulating the city's economy throughout town.

However, while campaigning throughout town, Payne said she kept hearing about the need for more police officers and better police protection.

"I heard it over and over again," she said. "That's when (police services) became my priority."

Not having enough funds in the city coffers to expand the police department as much as she'd like caused her to come up with the "I Love My Town" concept.

"Barbara is one of most energetic, eager, hit-the-road-running people that I've ever seen join the council," Clare said. "Her enthusiasm is contagious. It's neat to see someone who enjoys what she's doing like she does."

A cheerleader in Santa Cruz

Born May 29, 1942, in Los Angeles, Payne lived in various locations in California and Texas during her childhood. She graduated from Santa Cruz High School, where she was a cheerleader. She attended North Texas State University and the University of Houston-Clear Lake City, but she didn't receive a degree.

She was a soccer mom and Girl Scout leader in Lampasas, Texas, until someone suggested she try her hand at building construction. In 1984, she built two or three small homes at a time through a Farmers Home Administration program. That gave her the experience to seek employment with a major developer.

"I think one reason they hired me was I was willing to start at $24,000 a year, (a low salary at the time)" she said.

Payne said her biggest challenges at the time were juggling the subcontractors' schedules and dealing with what she considered macho men in the construction field.

"I always wanted to prove I can do it and prove to all those men that I could do the job," she said.

After the real estate market took a hit in Texas, Hal Porter Homes hired her and actually paid for her move to Antioch. Six months later she was hired by Sterling Homes.

Payne built the Sterling Oaks subdivision in western Galt in the early 1990s. She lives in one of the homes there and has remained there ever since.

She met her husband, Mike, a Sacramento County building inspector, while he was inspecting one of the subdivisions she supervised. They have been married 13 years.

Payne has three children, Scott Duke of Denver, Michelle Wilkinson of Kansas City, Kan., and Suzanne Nelson, who lives in the Dallas area. She also has four grandchildren.

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.

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