One Voice Trip
Recently, there was significant controversy in our neighboring City of Lathrop about the need to send our elected representatives on the annual "One Voice" trip sponsored by the Council of Governments (COG). These same "One Voice" opponents contacted our local representatives as well and asked why they would support this trip. You'll note that none of these opponents expressed any of their concerns at a Manteca City Council meeting. This is due, in no small part, to the very thoughtful and comprehensive response that Councilwoman Moorhead provided via email to the opposition group. In fact, a member of this group responded to the Councilwoman's email as follows:
"...Had our questions been answered (in Lathrop) as eloquently as you have been able to do, quite possibly there would have been no question to begin with. Maybe in the future when I have a question regarding such items, I should come to Manteca Council meeting to get an honest and informed response."
Here is the response that was prepared by Councilwoman Moorhead:
Again thank you for taking the time to email me about the COG trip. I have been participating in this trip for several years. I do believe in it 100%. Let me tell you why. Five years ago I was interested in seeing what COG was doing on behalf of my tax dollars (Measure K). I decided to go to Washington DC to see first hand what our city's leaders were doing on behalf of all of us. I was and still am very impressed with the time and dedication city leaders put into this trip. It is so important to continue going back annually to DC as a unified voice from our region as this helps to build relationships with members of Congress as well as Administration staff. Not only is there local officials but private sector as well. This is a good and strong benefit.
The process that each jurisdiction and participating agency goes through to research, select, approve, and review the regional priority projects for our federal platforms, is vital and necessary to help distill our many needs for our region. Through One Voice we provide our congressional representatives informed and local input from all the districts. The feedback from Congressional representatives indicates the One Voice helps them to better understand our central issues, as well as to advocate for our regional priority requests. This trip as One Voice puts focus on how regional cooperation and support opens doors for a variety of opportunities. This year the district's federal funding requests total $131,971,970. This includes private sector as well. To date more than 54 million dollars has been generated through One Voice. I hope this helps you to better understand the importance of One Voice.
I think participating city officials need to continue to educate the public about how the One Voice process itself helps the region. Please remember all projects local or regionally we (all cities and citizens) benefit by. If you have any further questions I am sure the Executive Director at COG(Andrew) will be able to help you.
Thank you for your email.
Respectfully,
Debby Moorhead
"...Had our questions been answered (in Lathrop) as eloquently as you have been able to do, quite possibly there would have been no question to begin with. Maybe in the future when I have a question regarding such items, I should come to Manteca Council meeting to get an honest and informed response."
Here is the response that was prepared by Councilwoman Moorhead:
Again thank you for taking the time to email me about the COG trip. I have been participating in this trip for several years. I do believe in it 100%. Let me tell you why. Five years ago I was interested in seeing what COG was doing on behalf of my tax dollars (Measure K). I decided to go to Washington DC to see first hand what our city's leaders were doing on behalf of all of us. I was and still am very impressed with the time and dedication city leaders put into this trip. It is so important to continue going back annually to DC as a unified voice from our region as this helps to build relationships with members of Congress as well as Administration staff. Not only is there local officials but private sector as well. This is a good and strong benefit.
The process that each jurisdiction and participating agency goes through to research, select, approve, and review the regional priority projects for our federal platforms, is vital and necessary to help distill our many needs for our region. Through One Voice we provide our congressional representatives informed and local input from all the districts. The feedback from Congressional representatives indicates the One Voice helps them to better understand our central issues, as well as to advocate for our regional priority requests. This trip as One Voice puts focus on how regional cooperation and support opens doors for a variety of opportunities. This year the district's federal funding requests total $131,971,970. This includes private sector as well. To date more than 54 million dollars has been generated through One Voice. I hope this helps you to better understand the importance of One Voice.
I think participating city officials need to continue to educate the public about how the One Voice process itself helps the region. Please remember all projects local or regionally we (all cities and citizens) benefit by. If you have any further questions I am sure the Executive Director at COG(Andrew) will be able to help you.
Thank you for your email.
Respectfully,
Debby Moorhead
Labels: City Council
posted by City Manager @ 12:33 AM
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