Hercules, California Councilor Myrna de Vera. PHOTO BY GARY DE GUZMAN
HERCULES, California — Prayers, yoga and audio books helped Myrna de Vera make tough choices since she emerged as the first woman and the sixth of Filipino descent to lead Hercules city in 2011. Concluding her second term as mayor on December 9, the newly elected council member was lauded for professionalism and bravery by her peers.
“Myrna has a lot of experience in the council,” Sherry McCoy, who served as De Vera’s vice-mayor and is the elected mayor for 2015, told Manila Mail. “She was a great mayor and exhibited a great leadership. Obviously the city has accomplished a lot under her leadership and the city is grateful. I’m glad she’s re-elected because she’ll be a good continuing member of the council.”
“She wasn’t ready to be mayor, but in the end, she did very well,” added Peal Parmelee, board member of the Filipino Food Movement, recalling the financial crisis that De Vera stepped into in 2011.
Amid charges of fund mismanagement, conflict of interest and rampant nepotism and cronyism involving former city leaders, Hercules faced what De Vera has described as the city’s “darkest years.”
There had been mass layoffs and service cutbacks due to a huge budget deficit, with city properties sold at “fire-sale prices” since 2011, De Vera revealed during her acceptance speech last year as incoming mayor.
Commitment
Having accomplished a balanced budget this year after years of deficit spending, she had been looking forward to retiring from politics and shifting focus to her twin sons and growing the family’s insurance business. But her commitment to the community had not waned.
“I believed my job was done, I thought I could leave public service with my head held high. After all, the city has paid off bankruptcy. But I changed my mind at the last minute and filed my papers on the day of the deadline. I realized my work is unfinished and after all the turmoil of the past four years, I could bring some stability to the council and city staff. I also have built good relationships with other elected officials and our legislators, and those relationships we’ve flourished to help the city move forward,” De Vera said during her farewell speech as mayor last week.
Many agree with McCoy about De Vera’s stabilizing role in the city council.
“Myrna represents Hercules residents like a family,” said former Internal Revenue Service employee Adoracion Nuñez, who has been a resident of Hercules since 1978.
All-purpose leader
“I think she’s a combination of a leader, a mom, a friend, a sister and a Filipino at that—so she brings in the culture of Pilipino helping one another,” according to Parmelee. “She waited for her kids to grow up to give back to the community and she’s a churchgoer, so all in one, a balanced mayor that Hercules needed.”
For lawyer friend Liza Herico, what stands out is De Vera’s “courage to stand for what she believes in”.
“I came to know Myrna when she became a member of the pastoral council at St. Patrick’s Church in Rodeo,” she told Manila Mail. “I was the recording secretary of the council then.”
“When Hercules had a problem about financial [malfeasance], Myrna played an instrumental role. I believe that started the ball rolling when all the activities of the past administrators came into play and they saw that Hercules was in the red.”
In her farewell speech as mayor, De Vera lauded the contribution of city managers Phil Batchelor and David Biggs in getting the city back into black.
“I had the honor to sign two city manager contracts,” she said. “Just a year ago, I actually lost faith in our city manager and council form of government. But Phil Batchelor and David Biggs have restored my faith in this form of government. They have shown that city managers can be strong leaders. They’re mindful that their place is to implement the policies set forth by the council members.”
De Vera noted that Bachelor introduced a culture of respect, integrity and excellence, while Biggs “always reminds me not to dwell on the past but to look forward to our vision of a Hercules that once again shines.”
Lots of projects
Incumbent Mayor McCoy noted in her speech that the city has a lot of projects coming forth.
“We’re looking to see things filled up and develop, which will give us additional revenue coming into the city and then will give us the opportunity. We had to cut back quite a bit several years ago due to the problems that we had with the city and then we have the opportunity to really start looking at where we want to go and how we want to build the city back up if we choose to do that or [if] we need to rebuild our reserves. We have a lot of opportunities to do that as the city builds up.”
To De Vera, what’s important is to keep moving forward.
“What is our destination? We are journeying towards achieving our vision of a city free of corruption and fiscally sound; a city with a transparent and inclusive council responsive to the will of the people,” she said.
“I will work with the rest of the council members, city council, staff and consultants to do what is best for our city. Three-thousand seventy five of you voted for me during the re-election but I’m here to represent all 25,000 residents.”