Among the challengers running for seats on the Merced City Council, one candidate stands out for his level of experience managing public resources, as well as handling community safety.
It’s Mike Harris — a 70-year-old resident who has served in the U.S. Air Force, local law enforcement, and as a director of emergency medical service programs at the municipal and regional levels. He has held management and corporate consulting positions for numerous firms and agencies, and in recent years, he has volunteered his time as a member of the city’s Planning Commission and Tax Transparency Commission, as well as being a board trustee for the county’s $1.2 billion Retirement Fund. He currently works as a special projects coordinator for the Sheriff’s Office.
All of this experience, mixed with a passion to serve his community, has led Harris to pursue the open District 3 City Council seat that’s on the ballot in the Nov. 5 election.
“I decided to run because I believe all of District 3 deserves representation that truly listens and responds to the needs of every neighborhood, not just a select few areas,” the candidate says. “I am really inspired by the opportunity to bring fresh ideas and energy to the council.”
“I admire and respect anyone and everyone who would run for public office. You know, just putting yourself out there like that is a real stretch and risk. I think that the District 3 candidates are all good people, who have great desire and commitment. Everyone knows what the issues are, but I truly believe that I have the experience and track record to provide real-world solutions. I want to serve the community as a council person earnestly and honestly. And with my background and experience, I think I am a perfect fit for what Merced needs right now.”
District 3 consists of Merced’s historic neighborhoods south of Bear Creek, as well as the Downtown area, and the Main Street entertainment and cultural corridor. In this race, Harris faces two other candidates: Cynthia Kelly, a marketing director and animal advocate, and Sair Lara, an education professional and community advocate. Notably, the District 3 incumbent, Councilwoman Bertha Perez, has decided to not seek re-election, which means the seat is guaranteed to go to someone new.
“I think District 3 has many of the same issues that face the rest of the city.” says Harris. “Crumbling infrastructure, housing issues, public safety, unacceptable EMS response, and the effects of homelessness. And, homelessness isn’t primarily a housing problem, it’s a mental health and jobs issue. Building tiny homes and putting people up in motels won’t solve the root causes of homelessness. And it’s a wide variety of possible things. … There is not a one-size-fits-all answer to homelessness.”
When asked about his plan to remedy these issues if elected, he replies: “Fundamental changes need to be made in this city’s methods of problem-solving. These are all symptoms of a larger problem, which is a lack of revenue. You want to fix roads? It’s not like we can’t fix them, and it’s not that we don’t have the technology. We just don’t have the money to do it.”
Harris says the solution is not increasing taxes on the residents, but instead investing more time into state and federal grants in addition to drawing more businesses to the area and strengthening relationships with the ones we already have. On top of that, he has hopes of hiring a full-time grant writer for the city, so that Merced can secure federal and state grants more often and more regularly.
“Economic development is really the key to solving the problems. When we bring in more businesses, we bring in more revenue. When businesses do well, everybody does well. It’s pretty much a win-win.”
As someone who has been involved with emergency medical services for a majority of his professional life, Harris has particularly strong feelings about the community’s lack of service. When asked specifically about his feelings regarding the quality and state of Merced’s emergency services, he quickly replies with one word, “troubled.”
“There just isn’t the reimbursement from the system to support a high-performance ambulance service anymore,” he says. “So, I think the answer lies within the city. … As a general rule of thumb, a city with a population of 100,000 people usually should have three dedicated ambulances, and we don’t see three ambulances in Merced very often.”
While there are a variety of causes for this, he credits this problem primarily to an issue within funding and reimbursement in Merced County.
“One of the problems I think there is with Merced is that we tend to try to invent our own solutions without looking around first, and seeing who may have had this problem before, and how they dealt with it. I am very much against reinventing the wheel. … They try to fine them into compliance, but that doesn’t work, you have to look at other solutions.”
Harris says the city is moving in the wrong direction when the positions of economic development director and assistant city manager are merged into one. “So you have one person doing both jobs, and they are both full-time jobs — and one of which should take you out of the city quite often. I think you cannot do both of those jobs with one person, and it doesn’t matter who the person is. In an effort to maybe save money, I think we are hurting ourselves.”
The candidate also shares the dream of developing Merced to become a true “college town.” He hopes to encourage more community gatherings and cultural events like the Mercado Night Market that regularly happens on Main Street, as well as the most recent Lao Boat Racing festival at Lake Yosemite.
Harris grew up on the East Coast, and joined the Air Force after high school. He graduated with honors from the U.S. Air Force School of Applied Aerospace Sciences, and spent 8 years serving the country and traveling all over the Pacific.
Harris spent the next decade working as a network and systems consultant for some major corporate firms, mostly back east in the Washington, D.C., and Delaware regions. However, he’s always been service-minded and after he signed up as a volunteer firefighter and paramedic for a rural Virginia region where he was living at the time, he discovered what he really wanted was to pursue a career in emergency medical services (EMS). So he gave up that bigger paycheck, and set his sights on advance life support systems and EMS management.
He moved to Ventura to take a paramedic manager position and eventually became the EMS Chief for the city’s fire department. After a few years, he moved to Alameda County and became the region’s EMS director. That’s when he met a top Merced County official who encouraged him to give this area a try — especially since the Riggs Ambulance EMS contract was up for bid in 2001 — the first time since 1948 — and Harris could possibly help out.
Harris liked the idea of living in a smaller town, and he ended up helping Riggs secure a 10-year contract with the county. In turn, Riggs held on to Harris, who became the vice president and general manager of the ambulance service and helped reshape the direction of the company.
He did that for about six years, and meanwhile, he also married an Atwater teacher, named Shelly. She’s the daughter of Norm Rolfe of Rolfe Construction in Atwater. So that helped keep Harris in town, and then yet again, he made another major career move after collaborating with local law enforcement on EMS training.
The Sheriff’s Department actively recruited Harris for a more “close up” position as an EMS deputy assigned to the SWAT team. That eventually led to Harris becoming a full-fledged peace officer. Again, he moved up to key positions in the department over a period of eight years, including within the Coroner’s Office, the ID section, and as a sergeant on patrol.
Harris had planned a run for City Council in 2022, but the redistricting process changed the area for where he was eligible to run.