Meet Joana Rebollar for Redding City Council

Nine candidates are running for three open seats on the Redding City Council in the November midterm election. Shasta Scout interviewed the candidates, including tax preparer and accountant Joana Rebollar. 

Interview questions were inspired by a reader survey that asked participants to identify their top priority issues along with questions they want answered. Each candidate was asked the same questions, and they were asked to keep their answers concise and to the point. 

What personal or professional qualifications have prepared you for the role of city council member?

“I’ve been in the tax and accounting world for nine years,” Rebollar said, “so I’m able to read financial reports, understand the patterns.”

She said she thinks her financial experience is important since city council members make budgetary and financial decisions, saying she’s “extremely qualified in that area.” 

“It’s not our job to know everything,” she said, “but it’s our job to fully understand the financials before we approve budgets.”

Why should the public trust you as a leader, and how would you approach issues of transparency, conflict and decision-making processes?

Rebollar said she’s a business owner, has had various leadership roles and has been in the city all of her life. She said she wants to clarify that she’s not part of an agenda and that the community has lost trust in the government because of the “lack of capacity” to make good decisions, which comes down to agendas, she explained. 

“I don’t want us being pushed out of the city because of agendas or people who want to keep their nice salaries that are living off of our tax dollars,” she said. 

She added that the city is “in bankrupt” and that she wants people to get to know her and trust her to make future-oriented decisions. 

“I’m not here to make friends, and I know I’m gonna make really hard decisions, and a lot of people are not gonna like it,” she said. “When I say a lot of people, I mean our government, or I will call them the elites. Elites are not gonna like it. They already don’t like it. They already don’t like me. But I don’t care. I want the future for our city.”

How would you work to address the city’s significant financial instability?

Rebollar said she’s already been doing deep dives on the city’s finances, saying money and numbers have patterns. She said there’s a lot the city doesn’t provide regarding its finances, and given her accounting and tax experience, she thinks it’s easy to obtain these records and enforce responsibility. 

“Most people aren’t financially literate [and] … don’t have a financial profession like me to where I know exactly where to go to obtain this stuff,” she said. 

She said it’s important for the city to understand the patterns, do a deep dive and break down what’s convenient and sustainable for the public’s use. 

“It’s our job to approve a budget,” she said. “It’s not my job to know everything. I will never claim I know everything because I just don’t. None of them do. But it is important that we sit down with the people who are within these departments, you know, understand and then ask the right questions.”

How would you as a council member work to provide resources for homeless individuals and ensure people have access to permanent housing?

“Once again,” Rebollar said, “I think that there is a lack of proper delegation with how the budgets are being approved and things are being properly taken care of. I think we need to do a deep dive on a lot of things.”

She said she doesn’t think the city should be cutting services, especially public services, and that leaders need to understand what is and isn’t working after doing a deep dive. 

“We need to do it now, because just, like, there’s all these rules that are missing,” she said. “There’s also so much that’s not being taken care of within our city, and that’s because of lack of proper allocation with our budget, right?”

There are several groups that have major influence in Redding, including Bethel Church, the Redding Rancheria and the McConnell Foundation, among others. When considering any influential groups you may be involved with, how can you ensure your leadership will stay objective and not persuaded by conflicts of interest?

“I want to let you know that I’m part of none of them,” Rebollar said. She explained that her networking is done through smaller, personal groups. She also alleged that the Redding Chamber of Commerce tried to not include her in the candidate forum, saying she believes she’s “a huge threat to them, because I’m not in the clique,” she said. 

She said she’s unafraid to cut funding to any group that isn’t contributing to the city and added that she’s willing to sacrifice elitists’ salaries to ensure tax dollars are safe. She explained that she understands that she would be only one vote on the city council, meaning she wouldn’t solely get to make decisions. 

“If they want to outcast me on a vote for their own greed,” she said, referring to other council members, “I’m going to bring it to the city because people have power, and we need a voice. We need somebody that knows and understands and is willing to bring it to the table because right now nobody is, right? Nobody wants to do that.”

She added that she’ll hear out everyone and will be respectful but that the only entities she will side with is the city and the community, saying she won’t be influenced.

What would your biggest priorities be if you’re elected?

Rebollar’s first priority is transparency, she said, emphasizing her belief that there’s a lot the city isn’t informing people on. “I’m willing to bring it to the public,” she said. 

She also said she wants to “dime and nickel” the city, meaning she plans to closely analyze city spending. She said she’s helped people get out of bankruptcy many times and that she can easily do it with the city.

“I will sit down and review every single financial statement and get rid of anything that is not working and is not necessary because we are in bankrupt,” she said. “I don’t think that our people should suffer the repercussions of bad financial decisions making.”

She said public safety and homelessness are also priorities, explaining that she has a business in town and sees how businesses are affected by homeless people, emphasizing “we need to take care of that.” She also wants to focus on improving the city’s roads. 

Rebollar added that all issues are equally important to her, saying she doesn’t want to cut departments or services and that she has a daughter whose future she wants to be here.