Five Questions for Stacey Giomi
Stacey Giomi is a long-time Carson City resident, and the newest member on the Board of Supervisors after being voted into the vacancy left by Karen Abowd. Giomi spent 30 plus years as a firefighter for our community before retiring as Fire Chief. During this series of Five Questions, Giomi discusses his time as fire chief, issues facing Carson City, and what he plans to accomplish during his time on the Board of Supervisors.
1) What’s the most important lesson you learned during your time as Fire Chief?
This is a difficult question, because I learned so many lessons in the course of my 31-plus year career. Each day brought a humbling experience that afforded me the opportunity to learn or improve upon.
Probably the most meaningful lesson I learned is compassion. During the early years of my career, I was driven by a competitive desire to be better every day, to improve myself in relation to my co-workers. That’s kind of the nature of the competitive field of firefighting. However, as I gained experience and dealt with the losses that families suffered, I came to realize that compassion is the most important quality that a public safety professional can possess.
Compassion for those community members we serve, compassion for our fellow firefighters, and compassion for our family members who are required to worry about their loved ones while they go about their jobs. Ultimately, the compassion I developed for my profession and the community allowed me to be better at my job, and a more connected member to the citizens of this community.
2) What do you think is the biggest issue Carson City is currently facing?
Overall, I think our biggest issue is deferred maintenance as it relates to the city’s infrastructure. Specifically, roads, buildings, and other infrastructure assets. During the economic downturn, maintenance items got deferred — the Board is working to bring those maintenance items back up to par now.
Road maintenance is a major issues. Decreasing gasoline taxes because of conservation, electric vehicles, and decreased road miles driven have left our road maintenance budget millions of dollars short. The Board is working to find solutions to this funding shortfall, but so far only band aid repairs are being made until we can find a permanent solution.
Another major issues (that is largely market driven) is the lack of available affordable (or workforce) housing. Our entire region is facing a shortage of housing in general. This regional boom is being driven by the success our businesses are having in bringing in new employees. Housing for lower paying jobs is almost non-existent — there are limited approaches that our local government can take to help the situation, but working together to find solutions is certainly among the efforts we can undertake.
3) Why did you want to join the Board of Supervisors?
Having lived and worked in this community for over 40 years, I feel a deep connection to the people and businesses here. That connection drives my work in service to my friends and neighbors. I’m honored to be able to give back to this community by helping to make decisions about our community’s future.
4) What is your favorite thing about living in Carson?
There are so many things to like about Carson City … the wonderful open space, the great restaurants, the endless recreational opportunities; however, my favorite thing about Carson City is its people. Our residents enjoy a wonderful sense of community, that feeling that you are a small part in something greater. Everyone I work with, my friends, and acquaintances all possess this great desire to make our town a better place to live. Carson City is only as strong as its people, and fortunately we have that in spades!
5) What is the most important thing you hope to accomplish during your time on the Board?
In general, I think the most important thing that I can do as a Board member is to be dedicated to researching and understanding the issues that come before us and to make decisions that benefit the community as a whole.
Specifically there are three things I’d like to accomplish in my 4-year term. One of those is to update the Carson City Master Plan and the relevant portions of our Development Standards. Our Master Plan is not only the roadmap for how our community develops, but also drives how our natural and man-made resources are used.
Secondly, I fully support the efforts that the Board and the City are undertaking to dedicate surplus city property to help solve the affordable housing issues we are having. Within the year, a fairly large parcel of land should be up for auction to a non-profit for the specific purpose of constructing work-force housing.
Finally, I’d really like to see the surplus land that the State of Nevada has around our community be converted to city ownership or private ownership for the benefit of the community. There are major chunks of land that are sitting vacant — some right in the heart of our downtown. I’d love to get those parcels turned into some meaningful use.
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