Meet the Candidate: Richard Casavecchia

Challenger Richard Casavecchia cast a ripple of change through town when he decided to run for a City Council seat as a newcomer. He said he noticed that during elections everyone ran unopposed and that most of the council members had similar backgrounds and experiences. He hopes to bring variety and new insight if he is elected this March. Casavecchia earned his Bachelor’s of Science in criminal justice/law enforcement administration from California State University, Sacramento and a Masters of Business Administration from UC Davis. He also served the Army through the California National Guard working to fight wildfires and assist during earthquakes and other disasters. He said during his tenure he worked through the timeframes to help fight against wildfires in Napa, Clear Lake, Redding and Paradise.  He currently works on business intelligence projects for the Independent Physicians Association. He works to provide business insights to his clients and help provide analysis on data, financial records, performance of medical staff and help to identify and provide strategic advice. Casavecchia said his military and business experiences would bring a new perspective and different way of approaching problems and tasks, as well as professional experience in analyzing situations to Council. He said he was inspired to turn in his application for candidacy, and gave himself a crash course of what is on the city websites, and began asking for documents he couldn’t find to learn more. “Every time I go into something new I know I don’t know what I don’t know. It means I don’t have the whole view or picture,” Casavecchia said. “People on the council, their perspective are necessary, it’s part of the city. But having multiple different perspectives is always a good thing.” Casavecchia said through his campaign he has heard a lot of people have said they don’t feel that they are heard or that their opinion matters to council members. He hopes if elected he will be able to bring more transparency and communication between council actions and the community the council serves. “I don’t think that they’re not being listened to. There’s just no explanation for why the City Council is voting the way they are,” Casavecchia said. “They should be explaining why they’re doing this. Or at least give people an understanding and say ‘I get you don’t like this, here’s why it happened.’”]]>