Councilman has a ‘disruptive vision’ for Pasco. It’s modeled after Trump’s ‘DOGE’
Pasco City Councilman Leo Perales has a new initiative in mind for the city called the Department of Pasco Efficiency. That’s DOPE, for short.
The motto? “Make government so simple, a DOPE could run it.”
Perales started posting about the department in November 2024 on his official Facebook page, X account and other social media, and recently shared a 30-page proposal explaining it.
Perales has served on the Pasco council since January 2024. He was one of the city council candidates backed by the Franklin County Republican Party in the November 2023 general election.
Mayor Pete Serrano, Mayor Pro Tem David Milne and councilmen Perales, Peter Harpster and Charles Grimm hold a conservative majority on the council.
Perales announced DOPE via an email sent to the city council and City Manager Adam Lincoln but received no responses from them, he said.
Developing DOPE
A self-proclaimed “reformer,” Perales calls DOPE his innovative, disruptive vision for Pasco.
He said it’s inspired by a combination of his research and observations on the city council this year. He’s also borrowed ideas from others.
Mainly, it’s modeled after the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a proposed advisory body under President-elect Donald Trump, led by campaign mega-donor Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Trump announced his incoming administration’s plan for DOGE in November.
“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies - Essential to the “Save America” Movement,” Trump said in the announcement.
“It will become, potentially, ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time,” he added, referring, of course, to the World War II-era program to produce nuclear weapons.
DOPE shares many similarities with Trump’s planned federal body.
Perales told the Tri-City Herald that he would like the city to cut “dumb regulations” and “red tape” he said are unnecessary. He hopes that will speed up reviews and permits for proposed construction projects and cut fees for developers.
He would like DOPE to be a bridge between the city council and city staff.
He wants the initiative to empower city staff to question processes, find new methods and work with more urgency. He also would like the city to reduce its use of consultants, and implement better IT and data-records management systems.
“We have a culture of (saying) ‘no’ here at the city,” he said.
Perales also supports “going back to the core functions of local government — infrastructure spending and public safety.”
Boosting Pasco’s economy
Pasco’s economic future is a cornerstone of the proposed department.
Perales told the Herald that the city needs a clearer economic development plan and should employ an economic development director.
He also envisions the city council having more control over Pasco’s Capital Improvement Plan and other spending in the future.
Perales explained that DOPE’s main purpose is to find ways generate revenue for the city.
Some of his ideas echo what the city of Pasco already has been considering, including a levy lid lift, a Transportation Benefit District and tax increases.
He said he was driven to formalize DOPE after feeling frustrated by the city’s biennial budget planning process.
Pasco faces a multi-million dollar shortfall for the 2025-26 biennium.
The city is now expected to spend about $11 million in reserves over the next two years as needed, as well as pull back spending across departments.
In December, the city council voted 6-1 to approve the biennial budget. Perales was the lone dissenter.
Next steps
It’s still unclear how DOPE would actually function and fit into the city government.
Perales hopes it would become a subcommittee of the city council, so his next focus is getting fellow city council members and city staff onboard.
He told the Herald that he believes he can convince Serrano, Milne, Grimm and Harpster to support it.
“I want this to be a collective, but you always need someone to be the tip of the spear,” Perales said. “That’s fine with me — I’ll be the tip of the spear.”
In the coming months, Perales plans to meet with city council members, hold community listening sessions and gauge interest from local organizations and businesses.
But if he’s met with disagreement, he said he is also prepared to create an external group.
“I’m trying to raise awareness in the community that there is a representative that wants to make the necessary changes that we all know need to happen,” he said.
Perales said that he’s mostly received “tremendous” positive feedback from Tri-Cities residents in the form of social media messages.
The Pasco City Council’s next regular meeting is Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. at Pasco City Hall.
This story was originally published January 4, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
