Lloyd May is clear about why he’s running for City Council.

“I’m running to lower utilities,” he said, referring to the rates charged by the city-owned-and-operated Washington Electric Utilities.

May is one of eight candidates running for a seat on the five-member City Council. The council election is Nov. 8.

Like other candidates, May pointed out the city has made a habit of transferring money from its electric fund to help run other municipal operations.

He added that, as a member of Washington’s Electric Utility Advisory Commission, he has been “able to identify some key areas of improvement that I know will help the city.”

“Data collection and tracking should be one of the top items that we need to address,” he commented. “Currently, we do not do a good job on data collection and tracking.”

The local government should “totally restructure” its purchasing and, led by the council, City Hall should seek a greater number of competitive quotes for projects, he said.

Another worthwhile goal is “benchmarking” — figuring out how the city stacks up against other cities and private industry, according to May.

“I think employees should know where they’re sitting in relation to other cities,” he said.

Asked whether setting benchmarks could lead to performance-based pay raises for city workers, May replied, “I think it’s important, when you go to a job every day, that you have something to strive for.”

Benchmarking would improve morale, he said, “and could be a basis for pay raises,” he agreed.