LAKEPORT — Suzanne Lyons decided to run for a second term on the Lakeport City Council in part to continue the work she started in her first three-plus years in office and to provide consistency within the city government.
“I think it”s important to have some continuity on the city council. It takes a while to learn how government works and just your way around. I will have four years of experience and I”ve learned a lot,” Lyons, 68, said Monday.
The small business owner, who operates Second Time Around in Lakeport”s High Street shopping center, was elected in 2008.
Lyons said she took pride in several city projects during her time on the council and highlighted the recent refurbishing of the Library Park bathrooms.
“We”ve got a Victorian downtown. We don”t have places that have good public facilities so that park is important,” she added.
She commended the collaboration between the council and its staff to keep the city “on an even keel” financially despite the economic downturn.
“The city of Lakeport has come through considerable hard times and has managed to keep itself afloat,” Lyons said.
She said she was happy the council instituted a policy of “buying locally and hiring local contractors” during her tenure, but added, “I think that we”re slow at it. I think that it needs more focus from the city council.”
Promoting city businesses and connecting the waterfront with the downtown corridor were some of the issues she said she would focus on during the next four years.
Helping small businesses is important for the city not only from a sales tax perspective but also in terms of improving the quality of life for city residents and business owners, according to Lyons.
She listed other priorities, which included maintaining clean water, encouraging openness and transparency for the city government, and adding trees to Main Street to improve the look of downtown and create shadier, cooler conditions there.
Lyons said her background in art provided an important advantage for a councilwoman.
“Artists learn to look at things from many different perspectives and also to be creative, and I think that right now is a time in government when we really need to be creative and think about doing things in new ways,” she said.
Lyons lives in the city with her husband, Bill Graham. Her adult daughter also lives in Lakeport.
In addition to working as a small business owner and artist in the past, Lyons said she spent time as a community college teacher and a sign language interpreter.
