That invisible list — safe water, sound streets, sewers, fire, police, the unglamorous machinery beneath a functioning town — is what a city is for. City Council Financial Policy F1.01 states that the city will fund essential services first and protect the quality of the core services we already have before adding new ones. A Corvallis city councilor cannot end surge pricing, cannot set federal immigration policy, and cannot rescue the republic, or Gaza, or the world from a ward seat. It needs practical leaders who will spend responsibly, solve problems, and keep this city — our city — moving forward. Locally, he has served on or led numerous City of Corvallis and Benton County commissions and committees and task forces.