Meet Rebecca Anne Miller for Redding City Council
Three seats are up for grabs on the council this fall, and nine candidates are running. Miller is a substitute teacher with the Shasta County Office of Education and a caregiver with In-Home Supportive Services, or IHSS.
In the upcoming November election, three seats are up for grabs on the Redding City Council, and nine candidates are running. Shasta Scout interviewed the candidates, including substitute teacher and caregiver Rebecca Anne Miller.
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?
Miller said she’s worked in business for a long time. For two decades, she said, she worked in the medical sector, from running clinics to working side-by-side with doctors and patients.
“I think that that will definitely prepare me to take on the role with getting to know the public and then working with the public in a personal way,” she said.
Why should the public trust you as a leader, and how would you approach issues of transparency, conflict and decision-making processes?
“I am all about truth, and I’m all about justice,” Miller said.
She explained that seeing what’s happening with the city’s finances and “how millions of dollars were missing” are huge issues for her, and she wants to get to the bottom of them to see how money can be spent properly.
“Until I’m really in there and can really see the numbers and have access to that information,” she said, “it makes it hard for me to know what it is. But yeah, once I’m in there, it should make it a lot more easy to analyze all of that.”
How would you work to address the city’s significant financial instability?
To start, Miller said the city should analyze the budget to determine where it’s at, figuring out how much money can be allocated to certain areas and which places need it most. She said the community should also be involved in the process.
“It’s like finding out if that money still really is there or exists, what money is missing, and then where can we spend it that will be the benefit to everybody involved,” she said.
How would you as a council member work to provide resources for homeless individuals and ensure people have access to permanent housing?
Not knowing where the budget currently lies makes it hard to determine that, Miller said. She explained that homelessness is her first priority, one that’s personal to her. She said one of her best friends is homeless, and she feels homelessness is a major problem needing to be solved.
“I think that no matter where we’re at in the city,” she said, “we need to make that our priority.”
When it comes to making that happen, she said she doesn’t immediately want to add taxes to citizens, but a small increase is something she’d consider. She said the city should also consider other solutions, such as increasing assistance programs or hotels and assessing whether current initiatives are working.
“It’s like, again, looking at the actual numbers and everything,” she said, “and seeing how much money we have to spend, and then where it can go, and if that doesn’t work, then maybe add on a small tax or something, which, again, very small.”
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?
Miller said she “can’t personally ensure that any of that will happen.” She said people have asked her if she’s associated with Bethel Church, and said that if she is, they won’t vote for her, a sentiment which she called disheartening.
She said she can only do so much, and that people will vote for whoever they agree with. She added that she’s an Independent, a single mom and a substitute teacher, and she’s not endorsed by anyone.
“I’m like, ‘Hey, you know, like I’m running for city council,’ and I have a personal relationship with them, and I talk to them, and I hear what they need and what they want,” she said. “And that’s, I think, more influential.”
What would your biggest priorities be if you’re elected?
Miller’s first priority is homelessness. She said she feels it detracts from Redding’s beauty and makes it difficult to go out at night and feel safe.
Increasing better-paying jobs is also a priority, she said. She explained that she lived in the Bay Area for some time, and that the pay for the same job here is about 40% less.
“I just feel like there’s a huge disparity in income, a huge disparity in the pay,” she said, “and we somehow need to at least creep our way up a little bit more.”
She also wants to focus on better health care, she said, saying that will also add jobs to the community. She supports council member Dr. Paul Dhanuka’s plan for a medical school in Shasta.
Her last priority is fire prevention. She said she feels fire prevention efforts are already strong in Shasta, and she wants to continue focusing on already successful methods. She also thinks it would be a good idea to hire more firefighters so the city can spend less on overtime.
Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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Rebecca is an absolute amateur who wouldn’t know the first thing about serving on the council:
“it makes it hard for me to know what it is. But yeah, once I’m in there, it should make it a lot more easy to analyze all of that.”
“It’s like, again, looking at the actual numbers and everything,” she said, “and seeing how much money we have to spend, and then where it can go, and if that doesn’t work, then maybe add on a small tax or something, which, again, very small.”
You have the data provided by city employees, it is made public and something tells me you haven’t reviewed the budget or past years, nor have you been paying attention to local politics.
Thanks for what you do as a caregiver, but please spend some time attuning yourself to the conversation and run when you’re ready for the job.
No surprise that so far none of the comments are supportive coming from the main Scout readership base.
Everyone knows why, too. Its also why I don’t usually visit this site.
Good luck to you guys. 😐
I’m not sure what you mean then what people read this newspaper?
The scout is the best journalism now in the region sadly. It leans left of course.
If you gathered from this that a maga Christian claiming to be “independent” is the scouts pick I’d get some glasses.
Hi Stephen I said more, not all was published. You can message me at rebeccaannemiller4rcc@gmail.com
Another amateur, without a clue. Plus, she dodged the Bethel question. Nope.
Selah
Hi Gary, I didn’t dodge the Bethel question, not everything I said was published. I don’t go to Bethel however I think it is sad people will or will not vote for a person based on where/if they attend church
Not to quibble, but Bethel preaches something called the “Seven Mountain Mandate.” It requires Christians to recognize and honor Christ’s reign in this world by taking control of seven circles of society, including education, business, and GOVERNMENT. Because, you know… Christ is King.
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The word “Mandate” is key—it’s not a strategy or an option. It’s a requirement.
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No way in Hell I’m voting for anyone who has that kind of Christo-fascism as an overt goal.
Not a lot of substance in her responses.
Hi Stephen I said more, not all was published. You can message me at rebeccaannemiller4rcc@gmail.com
Miller sez: “Until I’m really in there and can really see the numbers and have access to that information, it makes it hard for me to know what it is. But yeah, once I’m in there, it should make it a lot more easy to analyze all of that.”
Here, maybe this will help you get off to a head start. Linked below is the City of Redding Budget and Financial Report published in October of last year (a new one will probably be published soon). It’s about 50 pages long, with 30 appended budget documents. If you read that and still can’t make any kind of assessment or come up with any hard questions until you’re “in there,” it doesn’t instill much confidence.
https://tinyurl.com/3tcwbd7t
So basically, “I’m not sure if anything’s wrong, but like, totally vote for me and I’ll like try to find out, and no fair asking about Bethel cuz like, judge me by ideas, which I’ll have once I get elected”
LOL. Thanks for the excellent abstract of my post.
There is definitely something wrong. If you watched the meeting last night you will see that and again see the information is still not totally transparent or public
Muy Bueno
That sounds exactly like what corky said
My response was stating that until the city is a transparent and gives the public the information I personally do not have all the numbers. Did you watch the city council meeting from last night 10/12?
My thoughts exactly. She’s not nearly ready for this