Five local candidates featured on Porterville Town Hall

They all stress importance of local control

Five candidates running for local office in Porterville in the November 8 election stressed the importance of local control during a Town Hall meeting that was held on Friday night.

The meeting was sponsored by Blessings of Liberty and held at Porterville’s First Christian Church. Featured in the Town Hall were Porterville City Council candidates Raymond Beltran and Greg Meister. Beltran is running to represent District 1 against incumbent Lawana Tate while Meister is running in District 2 against Jason Gurrola.

Three school board candidates were also featured in the Town Hall: Rae Dean Strawn, who’s running against incumbent Felipe Martinez to represent District 5 on the Porterville Unified School District Board; Cheryl Mccrillis, who’s running against incumbent Pete Lara to represent District 3 on the PUSD board; and Shelbie Akin, who’s running against Daniel Figueroa to represent District 4 on the Burton School District board.

Beltran talked about restoring community connections as why he was running for the council. He also said that’s why he began Porterville FYI, which has become the community’s definitive community forum on social media.

But Beltran admitted while more positive posts on his site receive little attention at times, topics like homelessness and crime will receive hundreds of comments. “It’s really frustrating to see the negative that gets a lot of attention,” he said.

But he added he was also motivated to run through the example of his parents, Fred and Elva Beltran, both community leaders.

“I got a lot of my involvement from just seeing it in action,” said Beltran about assisting his parents with their projects.

“We’re no longer connected like we used to be,” Beltran added. “We’re not connecting any more.” He also said he’s running for council to “try to engage the community. To bridge that gap.”

About the community,

Beltran said “there’s a lot of conflict,” adding “obviously COVID was a big one” in creating divisiveness.

Beltran said he was disturbed by how the council was talking at a July 7, 2020 meeting and felt the council members were more concerned abou their control. “It is very disturbing,” he said. “It’s almost that you’re listening to China.”

He also referenced Porterville being a charter city giving it more control when it comes to not always having to follow the state. That was a theme throughout the Town Hall as the candidates talked about how city and school board officials need to regain local control and be less beholden to the state or as Akin put it, “it’s time to stop the tail that wags the dog.”

As far as that July 7, 2020 meeting, Beltran said “it’s the language” the council members used that bothered him.

He added when it comes to local leaders sometimes they’re “not thinking outside the box. The leadership is fractured.”

Beltran also referred to bringing the community together when he said he wanted to “try to get the we back into our community.”

Strawn is well-known for being handcuffed and taken into custody at the January 18, 2022 city council meeting for not wearing her mask properly. She said at that moment she became a “reluctant leader.”

“I could see what they were doing wasn’t in the best interest of our city and our children,” said Strawn about the city’s leaders.

About her leadership style, Strawn said, “I have the way, I go the way and I show the way. Very simple.”

She added local leaders need to stand up to state edicts. Stand up and say no — no more.”

She also asked those in attendance to “fight for good change. Help us take back our schools and our city.”

Akin is a 2008 Leadership Porterville graduate and served on the Leadership Porterville board for 11 years. She was also previously a Burton School board member before moving out of the area she served.

Mccrillis, who owns Axiom Graphics, said what her seven grandchildren ages 5-12 went through during the COVID pandemic was why she was running. “All seven of them went through different emotions,” she said. “It was horrible on them.”

She also said about why she’s running, “I want to have a voice in what they learn and don’t learn” about her grandchildren. “I want to be a voice on the board for our parents and our children.”

Meister also referred to Strawn being taken into custody as a reason why he’s running for council. “I wasn’t 100 percent sure, running for city council,” he said.

But he added after seeing what happened to Strawn, “I could not sit back and do nothing any more.”

He added about the lack of local control, “Or government is ruling through emergency actions. It’s an emergency after emergency.

“We have to wake up to the fact of how we’re being ruled. Our government is raging out of control. We can change this community. We have to change the direction.”

Meister also referred to Porterville’s sales tax of 9.25 percent which is the highest in Tulare County and even higher than San Francisco’s, adding he’s seeing Porterville becoming San Francisco. “We have to change that trajectory,” he said.

He also called for cutting regulations for small business. “I will never vote to close a small business, I’ll never vote to close a church and I’ll never vote to violate your rights as an American citizen.”