Challenger Making 2nd Bid for Council

A Simi Valley insurance agent has become the first to officially announce his candidacy for either of two Simi Valley City Council seats up for election in November.

Mike McCaffrey, who ran a strong third in the 1994 campaign for two City Council seats, said that friends and colleagues urged him to run because they were not completely happy with the way Simi Valley’s future is being governed.

“It’s running well, but I believe and they believe that there is a lack of vision for moving forward in a city of more than 100,000 people,” said McCaffrey, 37, who has lived 12 years in Simi Valley.

City officials are pushing for construction of a mall and new shopping centers but not trying hard enough to lure businesses to settle in Simi Valley and bring more high-paying jobs to town, he said. They should try to woo more firms to Simi Valley, such as manufacturers who sell supplies to businesses already working there, he said.

“At least the same amount of attention should be focused on bringing businesses in here that pay a wage commensurate with living here,” he said.

Of the current council, McCaffrey said: “I don’t have any negatives to throw out. Overall, I think they’re doing an adequate job. But we seem to be in a maintenance role more than a role that would lend itself to developing new ideas.”

But he said that the City Council should work less contentiously with the Simi Valley Unified School District. The two agencies have clashed over pay for school crossing guards and the lack of a school in Wood Ranch.

McCaffrey likely will run against incumbent council members Bill Davis and Barbara Williams, both of whom have pulled papers to register their candidacy. The filing period for the council race and a separate mayor’s election opened Monday and runs until Aug. 9.

In 1994, McCaffrey won 17% of the vote, but was bested by Paul Miller, with 30%, and Sandi Webb, who won 25%.