Meet Kymberly Vollmers for City Council

This story is part of Shasta Scout’s citizen-powered election coverage. For the November 8, 2022 general election, we’re focusing on three races: the Redding City Council, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors and the Shasta County Board of Education. View all of the Meet the Candidate interviews.

Ten candidates, including one incumbent, are running for three open seats on the Redding City Council this fall. Our elections reporting flips the script by asking candidates to answer questions from the community. We’re conducting long-form, in-person interviews that last about an hour each and utilize questions drawn from you, via our Scout reader survey. Candidate responses have been curated and paraphrased for this format.

What should we know about you?

I’ve lived in Redding most of my life. I trained as a pharmacy tech and then went to school for cosmetology. I’ve always been a learner. Since having my first child in 2013, I’ve been a stay at home mom. I have a nine year old, an eight year old, a five year old and a one year old. And they are awesome. 

Why did you decide to run for city council?

In the past I was focused on the state level, because what they do there trickles back to us and how we live our everyday life. In 2019 I started spending time going down to the Capitol, going into different senators and assembly members offices and having conversations with their staffers. I was just trying to make sure that they hear the voices of the people.

COVID kind of shook a lot of people into participating in politics, which I think is very positive. 

Since 2020 I’ve been really focused on local politics and I ran for county supervisor in this year’s primaries because I didn’t think my voice would be represented by the two people running. I was afraid to run for office because I feared that I wasn’t prepared, that I didn’t have enough money, that I would be judged and feel like I didn’t belong. But I decided none of those things mattered and running for supervisor helped me to see that I was gravely underutilizing my own capacity. I had the capability to sit and listen to people and hear their perspectives. We can all do those things. It doesn’t matter how much money you have. 

The city is lacking representation by ordinary people and I think in order to be fair there should be the voice of an ordinary person on the city council. They have industries like business and law represented. I think it’s good that I don’t have an industry that would be impacted by the decisions of the city council. I am the only person who is looking at it from the perspective of civic duty. 

What is the City of Redding doing well? And what could the City do better?

What they’re doing well is tapping into the current momentum. As a city we are growing at a time where so much of the state is not.

I think they could do better at treating the community as their customers. For example, the permitting process could be improved through technology to make it more easily accessible and understandable. Those kinds of improvements will directly impact the city’s growth. 

Does the City of Redding need to be more transparent and honest? If so, how?

I think there needs to be more face-to-face contact. I think city leaders need to be out more in public meeting with the people, and being in places (like the library) where people can easily gather and ask questions. Something I’m very passionate about helping people to access difficult information by breaking it down so they can fully understand what’s happening,  and then go share it with those they know. Most people don’t have a thorough trust in the government but that’s partly because they don’t understand the process, or what’s allowed or required. There’s some things that are very frustrating to watch from the outside, but there are real reasons why they have to happen that way. We need more explanations. I think it’s not so much necessarily that there’s intentional dishonesty, but that there’s a lot of things that the city is just not really communicating, because they don’t think about how most people see things.

If you are affiliated with a religious community how would that affect your role on the City Council?

I understand that a lot of people allow their religious perspectives to be a factor in their decision making but I don’t think that’s whats best. If I see someone in leadership making a decision that’s been routed through their own individual beliefs I may think that they have lost touch with the community. I wouldn’t want my own views of spirituality or my own relationship with God as a council person to hinder others or infringe upon their rights. My individual perspectives do not outweigh the rights of others, so I would not bring my faith into how I make decisions on the city council and really I don’t think anybody should, if they are following the law. Our religious beliefs and our jobs should be separate. 

What is the Redding Police Department doing well and what can local law enforcement do better?

I don’t have very much interaction with the police and I don’t think I know enough to speak specifically to this. 

What do you see as the most important issue or issues facing Redding right now?

I think we have to enforce the laws we already have. For example, with Nur Pon, there was a displacement of people from that area and now new areas are affected by homelessness. We don’t need more police to enforce the law, we need more people engaged with what’s happening. Many people don’t understand the process so they see problems and complain about them but they don’t take action. A lot of people are disengaged when all it would require of them is to make a phone call or have a conversation with someone to help the law be enforced or a resource offered.

How would you address the significant number of people living without housing in our community?

The city doesn’t have as much of an impact on addressing homelessness as the county does. The county is where the resources are.  Right now it’s good that the city is attempting to make a more comprehensive list of the resources that are available. I think we need more collaboration with the county and nonprofits and more funding for existing programs and resources.

How would you address concerns about our community’s access to water during a historic drought?

The lack of water is not impacting Redding as much as it is impacting our rural areas outside the city limits, but it still worries people because there are statewide impacts from the drought.

How would you address how we use and develop land in our community?

I liked what the architect for the Redding riverfront project said, that development is a slow process and that they want people involved. Something like the riverfront development is going to impact our community in such a big way and for so many years. They should hear from the people in every stage.

When they seek out engagement they need to show people the results so that people understand that they were really heard and really listened to. They also need to have consistent workshops or meetings where real conversations can be had that are documented and where questions are heard by all and answered thoroughly. Providing for public dialogue is very important.

How would you address the need for housing in our community?

Generally we need to encourage progress, encourage developers to come here and to build housing. And we need to focus on more multifamily housing, including townhomes and apartments. We lost a lot of homes in the Carr Fire and there’s been a lot of shifting of people because of finances during COVID. Right now we really need development that considers a range of incomes. 

How would you address climate concern as a Redding leader?

I would support environmentally conscious efforts if they make financial sense. I want to understand what the local environmental groups have done and what they’re trying to do because preserving what we have is a big deal to me. I want my girls to have access to the world and to have a sense of responsibility for it. A huge part of their homeschool education is about respect for nature and why that matters. I actually think that a lot of locals live here because they love nature. We have to make sure to care for what we have. 

How would you help our community prepare for and reduce the risk of wildfire?

I think a huge part of it is definitely education. We also need to look for more grant funding to help us prepare for worst case scenarios because we’re not prepared yet, the Carr fire showed us that. Now that we’ve learned from that experience I think we’re in a good position to do what needs to be done. 

Thank you for your time! How can people learn more about your campaign

My website is Vollmers2022.com.

Additional Resources:

• Kymberly Vollmers has not yet documented any donations to her campaign.
• Here is her official candidate statement.
• Here is her form 700, documenting any potential conflicts of interest.

Have questions about local elections? We’ve provided resources here.