City Council candidate Steve Jarrett stands in front of his office building Thursday in Lodi. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Jarrett: Realtor with a history of helping others in community

Steve Jarrett is a lot more politically savvy than he was when he ran for City Council two years ago. The 55 year-old realtor is in the race again this year and hopes the lessons learned from his last campaign will translate into a seat on the council.

Last time, running as Pastor Steve Jarrett, he assumed God would lead him to victory. He has since left the church and is running a more aggressive campaign.

"The last time I ran, I did not want to do anything that brought any question as to shaming my Lord. I just walked around and thought God would send me where he wanted to send me," he said. "I have been much more out there this time meeting people and attending openings. I am more proactive."

On a shoestring budget of $7,000, he came in third last election. He has already raised that amount and started campaigning a month earlier, which has won him the endorsements of the Lodi Chamber of Commerce and the Pro-Life Council of San Joaquin County.

Pat Patrick, president of the Chamber of Commerce said "Steve would make a thoughtful and compassionate council member. For the last two years he has been a student of the issues Lodi faces and he has spent a considerable amount of time looking at the budget."

Jarrett, a Vietnam Navy Veteran and former deputy sheriff in Fresno, has lived in Lodi for nine years. With a degree from San Jose Christian College and training from the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in Fresno, Jarrett and his family moved to Lodi to start the non-denominational New Hope Community Church.

Though he lacks experience in government, he has a history of involvement in community organizations including the United Way Lodi Area Council and Juvenile Justice Commission and he was the police department's chaplain. He says his biggest accomplishment for the community was his work on the Lodi Veterans Plaza Foundation that built the Veterans Plaza next to Carnegie Forum.

He considers the city's budget shortfall as the biggest problem facing Lodi and thinks that growth is the best way to solve the fiscal problems.

"Our budget has been stripped and there are positions in the city government that are unfilled," he said. "The reason why we don't have more revenue is because we have grown out of our general plan. We don't have the ability to attract more jobs and more tax base."

He is not in favor of increasing the city's two percent growth cap, but he says he would like to increase tourism in Lodi.

"I would partner with the Chamber of Commerce and Lodi Visitors Bureau to find incentives to attract a new hotel or bed and breakfast," he says. "Tourism is a great income generator. I think it can become the goose that lays the golden egg."

Because of his law enforcement background, crime is an important issue to Jarrett, he says.

"I have thousands of hours of experience fighting gangs in Fresno," he says. "There is only one thing that handles a gang problem and that is police presence on the street. If we are serious about removing the gang issue, we need to have more cops on the street."

Jarrett says if elected, he would give the police department $450,000 for a new patrol beat on the Eastside.

"To sit up there and complain about crime and not give the police the tools to deal with it is not good government."

Of the major initiatives on the ballot, Jarrett is only for Measure J, a resolution to establish low-income discounts for water and sewer services. He says measure G, which would raise funds for emergency services and recreation buildings through a sales tax, is "flawed" because it would combine two issues into one.

Measure H, which would repeal the city's water rate increase, would be a "disaster" if passed, according to Jarrett. He thinks Lodi needs this revenue to pay for the clean up of contaminated drinking water.

"Measure H would devastate us," he says. "Lodi would not be the Lodi we know if H passes."

Steve Jarrett

If Jarrett learned to get his name known early from the last election campaign, he has learned to get his face recognized this time around. As he was handing out flyers at a recent street fair, a woman came up to him and started telling him that she thought Steve Jarrett was a great guy. But she had no idea that she was talking to Steve Jarrett.

Jarrett says he is pleased that citizens are taking an interest in this year's race, but thinks they should have more knowledge about the issues affecting their lives.

"The average voter needs to be more educated on the issues," he says. "Their knowledge of the issues are the only hope for Lodi to progress."

Contact reporter Matt Brown at mattb@lodinews.com.

First published: Monday, October 9, 2006