Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Elect Jaime Barceleau, City Representative, District 3


I’m the youngest of 5 children raised by a single mom in south central El Paso.  We didn’t have much money and didn’t own a home so we moved often from one rental to another.  Mom worked six days a week; at home we were children raising children.  By some miracle, all of us survived the barrios of El Paso, graduated from high school, and found gainful employment – not a bum in the bunch.  We were the chicanitos that should not have survived the barrio, but we did.  I learned from mom HOW to work, and from my siblings I learned life’s lessons.  This humble upbringing formed my character.

 

I began working as young boy, running errands for construction workers who gave me tips.  It felt good to bring home pennies and nickels to contribute to the household income.  I became the neighborhood errand boy, working odd jobs for my neighbors and nearby stores.  During my high school years I worked for a carpenter on weekends, winter break, and summer.  The day after I graduated, I went to work for him full time, until I joined the army.  I’ve never been a day without a job since then.  I learned the value of a dollar, and I learned not to squander a buck because it was earned the old fashioned way.

 

In due time, I became a father to two wonderful girls who grew into successful independent women with whom I still maintain a strong bond.  I was an active father, tending to all the significant events in their lives and coaching them both in their extracurricular activities.  From me they inherited a strong work ethic and learned how to be honest, respectful girls.  Recently I married a wonderful, smart, and beautiful woman, Norma Favela Barceleau, and I became a stepfather to bright and handsome young man.

 

It’s been a busy and rewarding life, and I’ve been trusted with positions of leadership in the military, in the civilian workplace and as a community volunteer.  I served four years in the army and another 27 years as a weekend warrior in the army reserve where I was military officer.  On weekends I was a soldier, during the week I was a social worker.  For 27 years, I maintained two careers.  As a professional social worker, and military officer, I was trusted by those in authority with promotions and responsibility, culminating in my retirement as a Lieutenant Colonel and as a chief executive officer. 

 

The highlight of my army career was being selected to command a battalion with nearly 500 soldiers in El Paso and southern New Mexico.  The highlight of social work career, for the last 18 years, I was the chief executive officer of a large and complex organization, the Paso del Norte Children Development Center.  For the last half of my tenure at this agency we were voted best of the best local nonprofit in town. 

 

An active community volunteer, I have been involved with many civic organizations going back to my days at UTEP with the student association of social workers and continuing to this day as an active volunteer with my church as a lay minister, as an active member of Cielo Vista Neighbor Association, and on the boards of Community en Accion and FirstLight Federal Credit Union.

 

It might sound hard, being an active father, a professional social worker, a weekend warrior, and a community volunteer, but it wasn’t.  I did all those things, I did them well, and I fun doing them. 

 

These experiences gave me the opportunity to develop the trust of my superiors, the trust of my subordinates, the trust of my peers, and even the trust of the teams I coached.  Success in these careers is a reflection of well-developed leadership skills.  I learned how analyze situations, how to make decisions, how to dedicate scare resources, how to get along with others, and how to get the job done.

 

Many candidates talks about creating jobs.  For the last 18 years I actually created many good jobs, with decent salaries, health insurance and a 401k plan.  I’ve managed budgets, and created new service programs, and complied with complex regulations.  I grew a small agency dedicated to helping children with disabilities into a complex organization with multiple funding sources.  I learned to write and implement policies.  I learned how to work collaboratively with local, state, and federal policy makers to advocate on behalf of our clients.  I developed collaborative relationships with colleagues to pool our resources together to achieve better outcomes. 

 

I am a trusted leader with a lifetime of community service.  I’ve reached a point in my life where need to do more for my neighbors in district 3 and for my community.  I am not the typical politician, I am a leader who wants to bring a lifetime of positive experiences to city government because El Paso is the most dynamic community in the country today. 

 

In the past 15 years, or so, many good things have happened in the Sun City, thanks to our civic leaders.  Good things like the boom at Fort Bliss.  Good things like the expansion of Texas Tech, University Medical Center, the Children’s Hospital, and Medical Center of the Americas.  Good things like private investment in two large hospitals.  Good thinks the rebuilding of our two largest school districts.  Good things like the renaissance downtown with hotels, the arts district, the ballpark, the street cars, the digital wall, and coming soon, the Mexican American Cultural Center, a children’s museum, and the arena.  Of course, its hard to ignore all those beautiful orange barrels that remind us of road construction.

 

There is much to be done, many projects all over town to finish, lots of coordination with other local governments.  We worked very hard to shed a culture of corruption at all levels of local government and we cannot go back.  El Paso needs responsible government with a steady hand and honest stewardship.  I encourage voters to examine my background, there are no skeletons, I have clean record.  My history demonstrates that I will provide leadership you can trust, based on a lifetime of service to my country and my community.  Henry Ford said “you cannot build a reputation on what you’re going to do.”  I built my reputation on good works.  Vote for me for City Representative, District 3.

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