Cliff Maurer, Public Works Director – City of Santa Barbara

There will be a ballot measure in March 2024

It will ask voters to allow a change in how Public Works projects are bid. This change to the city’s charter must go to the voters.

Today all Public Works projects, with few exceptions, are awarded to low-bid contractors. That’s good, right? Well this approach served us well once, but times have changed.

What’s the alternative to low-bid contracts? Best value. Cliff will explain.

He’s a bike rider – he’ll share his favorite rides.

Listen to the audio podcast:

(Editor’s note: This is my 555th podcast interview, which feels like a milestone. Although the majority of those podcasts happened at an earlier time in my career, it’s felt good to identify a topic, find the perfect subject and suit up to do it again. A few thoughts about the venue: Handlebar Coffee is a great meeting place, it’s where I would go to hang out when I first moved to town, but it’s noisy. Coping with a noisy environment, that’ll get easier over time and yes, I look forward to doing an interview in a quieter place. But popular locations make subjects comfortable, they know what to expect when someone says, “Let’s meet for coffee.” As has happened so many times with in-person interviews, there’s some dynamic at work such that as we run out of things to talk about and the microphone gets packed up and put away, it’s at this moment that my subjects will share something that will be the most meaningful commentary of the interview. That happened here with Cliff Maurer and so you’ll forgive the noisier background sounds, because I had just enough time to pick up my phone and hit record. What prompted Cliff to start talking about Bob Engels, his son and how he lost his seat in Congress once he realized the wisdom of youth that was in play? I’ve had my own encounter with the young activists at Strong Towns SB and I was sharing how they’ve had an influence on me – I’ve felt encouraged to participate in the public process again instead of wandering off into retirement.)

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