Piedmont residents Tim Rood, Jeff Wieler, and Teddy King have just been elected to the Piedmont City Council.

The City Council sets the public policy for Piedmont, and oversee the city’s staff, the people who provide the key services that Piedmont depends on, such as a police chief. Each members term is four years, but they can be re-elected.

They are the people’s representative to local government, and respond to constituents who have concerns or suggestions for the city government. They must attend two Council meetings per month and numerous community meetings.

Rood, a professional city planner, said he got interested in being on the Council by first being the president of the Piedmont Swim Club, a nonprofit that managed pools and interacted with the City Council a lot. He will be the liaison to the Planning Commission.

“I’ve always been interested in the project of government,” Rood said.

As a former member of the Budget Advisory Committee and Project Planning Committee, he has a particular interest in finance. He is working on unfriended liabilities, promises that the city has made to spend a certain amount of money on a particular project.

“I want to make it so that Piedmont residents don’t pay too many taxes,” he said.

Rood said he adds an in depth knowledge and understanding in the city’s finance’s to the City Council.

“I’m interested in finding ways to provide services in the same quality but lower cost,” he said.

Rood is also a city activist, and is the co-chair of Piedmont Connect. He has done a lot of community outreach and is a supporter of Piedmont’s Bike and Pedestrian Plan.

“I’ve been taking an interest in the way the city manages risk for certain project,” he said.

King said she is also interested in promoting fiscal responsibility.

She has over twenty years of experience in legislative bodies and on city commissions. She been an aide to a member of Congress, staff to a US Senate campaign, Chief of Staff to a member of the SF Board of Supervisors. She has also served on the Piedmont Park Commission, the Recreation Commission, and the Environmental Task Force.

King said she has had a longstanding commitment to good government and public service.

“This passion started in high school when Nancy Pelosi spoke at our career day. Back in 1986 she had not yet been elected to the House of Representatives,” she said.

As a Councilmember, King is the liaison to the Recreation Commission and an Alternate to Stopwaste.org.

Her campaign platform focused on improving public safety, promoting cooperation between city government and the school district, improving environmental practices, and promoting fiscal responsibility.

“Piedmont is a great place to live and raise a family,” she said. “I want to do my part to make Piedmont even better.”

King said she provides a special perspective in that she is the only member of the City Council that who is a mom with school-age kids.

Wieler was reelected to the City Council as the vice Mayor of Piedmont, which means if the mayor is absent, he runs meetings and takes her place.

He said he decided to run for City Council because he had spent 15 years working behind the scenes on city commissions, and wanted to be part of the decision-making process.

“You get to work with a lot of really great people when you’re on the Council, including terrific volunteer citizens and wonderful city employees,” he said.

He said Piedmont is a wonderful city, and the people who live here are very fortunate. He is working to keep Piedmont a terrific place to live.

“We all have a responsibility to try and help our community,” he said. “I feel fortunate to have had that opportunity.”

He, like Rood, has a background in finance, and is particularly interested in budgeting.

“I bring financial expertise, and considerable work experience dealing with employee and personnel issues, and more than 20 years of volunteer experience in Piedmont,” he said.

Wieler’s main goal that he will be working on this term is to change the city charter to move election day from February until the state primary date in June. Doing so will save a lot of money, as the most recent election cost nearly $100,000, he said.

“This is a tremendous waste of money and we would be better off going for the June date and saving the money,” he said.