Incumbent Llanez seeks second shot at Mayor of Los Banos

On campaign theme of “Focus on Results”; shares list of accomplishments in first term, plans if re-elected

After being elected in 2022 to his first position in public office, Paul Llanez is seeking his second, two-year term as mayor for the City of Los Banos on a campaign theme of “Focus on Results”. The former Los Banos cop and  now, local small business owner’s campaign shared the following information about his background, accomplishments and plans if re-elected.

Background

Prior to his role on city council, Paul spent from January 2003 to August 2005 as a police officer for our community. In September 2005 he was promoted to a special assignment position, serving as a narcotics task force agent with the Merced Multi Agency Narcotics Task Force (MMNTF). In 2007 he was promoted to an acting task force commander position and helped train new task force agents to the newly created, countywide gang task force. Paul continued his law enforcement career with the City of Los Banos on a full-time basis and was elected seven consecutive times as the Los Banos Police Officer’s Association (LBPOA) union President, until he retired in June of 2015.

Realizes Dream of Small Business Ownership

He had a dream to start a small business while still serving his community as a Reserve Police Officer, which he still does to this day. In 2019 Paul was the only small business owner from Merced County selected by the United States Small Business Administration (USSBA) to participate in a business leaders’ educational program. He completed the program and graduated with special recognition from Congress.

Since 2015 Paul has grown his emergency preparedness and risk management firm to employ fifty-two people with divisions in Orange County and northern California. The corporation recently expanded its service area to include Washington State, Hawaii and Colorado.

In 2022 he started a second business which purchased a high school campus in Turlock, CA and transformed it into a training center for first responders.

Accomplishments

Since becoming our city’s mayor on December 7th, 2022, Llanez has helped support city staff to reach goals and accomplishments our city has never seen in any two-year term. These accomplishments include the following items which have been completed or are scheduled to be completed this year.

Roads:

• Paving, resurfacing or repairing more city streets than have ever been done in a two-year period (twenty streets and one alley)
• Installed thirty-seven ADA ramps on sidewalks in residential neighborhoods.
• Completed the signal light synchronization project on Pacheco Blvd, increasing the flow of traffic through town.

Parks and Recreation:

• Creating our own Parks and Recreation department and promoting Joe Heim to director.
• Completed new landscape projects at eleven different city properties.
• Received a grant from First 5 Merced County in the amount of $445,000 to install five separate shade structures at city parks.
• Added brand new playgrounds to seven different city parks.
• Held volunteer days to help paint and upgrade multiple city basketball courts and parks.
• Partnered with LBUSD to renovate the 7^th Street basketball court.
• Completed the full renovation of the newly named “Noah Jones Ball Park” located on 7^th Street.
• Held the first ever drone light show for the community during the 4^th of July.
• Awarded $1,000,000 from the office of State Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria for a splashpad construction project to Colorado little league park.

Wastewater Treatment Plant:

• Eastern Field Irrigation Improvements
• A/C roof replacement, hot mix overlay and automated access at the entrance.
• Biosolid removal of channels (over ten years overdue)
• Perimeter fence replacement and levee assessment completed.
• Thirty-six-inch sewer line installation to the plant.

Animal Shelter:

• Doubled the number of city employees assigned to the animal shelter.
• The animal shelter is now open on Saturdays.
• Added internet WIFI to the shelter property.
• Installing an automatic gate entrance.
• Paving the parking lot and adding landscaping to the property.
• The shelter received over $240,000 in grant funding from UC Davis for microchipping, educational documents, supplies and spay and neuter services.
• Established partnerships with organizations such as PetcoLove, Maddie’s Fund, ELKS, Feral Freedom of Northern California and others.
• Partnered with a local Veterinarian for spay and neutering services of rescued animals.
• The construction of the first expansion of the kennels and office building began in more than twenty years.

Homeless Crisis:

• Launched the newly formed housing division department in the city.
• Reunited several unhoused individuals with family members in other counties or states.
• The city was awarded $11,842,621 in encampment relief funds (ERF) to build fifty tiny homes to combat homelessness scheduled for construction in 2025.
• The city was awarded $2,500,000 in grant funds from the Central California Alliance for Health (CCAH) for homeless relief projects and services.
• Presented the consideration of adoption of a new city ordinance relating to public camping and storage of personal property on public property or in public areas.
• Created a designated safe location for unhoused members of the community with direct supervision from the Police department.
• Immediately removed all encampments within the city after the Federal ruling was made to give cities authority to do so.

Public Safety

• Completed construction and opened the new police station.
• Promoted Ray Reyna to Chief of Police and hired a new Police Commander.
• Recruited and hired both a new Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief.
• Authorized the purchase of a ladder fire truck.
• Purchased and installed license plate reader software and cameras in various locations in the city.
• Renovated the outdoor police department shooting range.

Communication and Transparency

• Added a QR code to city waters bills with a direct link to a webpage with city updates and recently completed projects.
• Chose to add the decision of hiring the city manager as an open session city council agenda item to gain public input and explain the “why” for voting yes in his decision.
• Partnered with a small local business to create social media content to educate the community on current events, recent projects and city department information.
• Held a town hall meeting on the homeless crisis to gain public input for strategic planning purposes.
• Attended over one hundred meetings in person with constituents or local organizations on a variety of topics and concerns.
• Invited members of the community to tag me or request me to join conversations and threads on social media platforms such as Facebook or NextDoor.

All these projects, as well as several others, such as beautification projects include citywide tree trimming and community building painting upgrades. One accomplishment he is most proud of was being asked to serve on the Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) Finance subcommittee where Llanez made the recommendation and eventual board approval to give a $300 rebate to more than 5,200 low-income Los Banos customers on their energy bill during the month of December 2023.

Paul hopes to continue the positive momentum for the future. ‘I have extremely specific goals for these next two years that include bringing amenities to our community. These past two years we focused on infrastructure and addressing neglect and there is still much that can be done on that. But I am excited to work on the Colorado park project and continue to strategize and work with city staff on building a public pool. We have the hardest-working City Manager and dedicated city employees who can work together with the community and city council to make these projects a reality. As a mayor my role is to support city staff and address policies, procedures and ordinances. The people who work for the city deserve all the credit in the world for everything that has been accomplished over the past two years. I am proud to work alongside each and every one of them.’”

Regional Leadership

During his first year as mayor, Llanez served as Vice Chairman, and this year he serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Merced County Association of Governments.

Shares Plans if Re-elected

On his website, the mayor shares his plans for “The Next Two Years” if re-elected saying, “With another two years in office, we can work on the following vision.

​1. Transition of our city from a bedroom community that relies heavily on impact fees from new homes to a sales tax driven city focusing on economic development and local job growth. We don’t need more single-family homes and traffic congestion; we need to support businesses to bring in sales tax revenue. 

​2. Continue to treat all businesses and citizens fairly while holding housing developers accountable for subpar projects. I voted to widen all city streets for future development and to ensure our city inspectors review all work done in our city. I want to make sure issues like DeAnza Road and Shaunessy Park don’t slip through the approval process, like they did before I came into office. 

​3. Focus on building community amenities to give our citizens what they want. I want to ensure the little league park renovation project gets finished as well as my continued focus on bringing a community pool back to our city. Taxpayers deserve to see actual results with their money, not let it sit there and do nothing for them. 

​4. Continue the momentum and focus on repairing more city streets, holding more community events, expanding our public safety resources and staff and continuing to beautify Los Banos.”

Personal Life & Education

Llanez is married to Brooke, and they have three children, a daughter, Mia and two sons, Ashton and Jack, the oldest of whom is now married as of May this year, to Allie, a special ed teacher in Los Banos. The mayor’s education includes studies at Fresno State University.

For more information about Llanez and his re-election campaign call (209) 917-0499, email [email protected] or visit Paul4lbmayor.com and facebook.com/paul4lbmayor.

He faces former Councilman Refugio LLamas and former mayor Mike Amabile in the only multi-candidate race for the city council or school board. There are only two candidates in each of the other three contested races. The election is November 5th.

Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.