NRI KASH (Kashmir) GILL, becomes the first Sikh-Elected Mayor in the United States

• Dec 31, 2013: Councilmember Kash Gill was elected to the City Council of Yuba City, California in November 2006 and in 2012.

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• Kashmir (Kash) Gill is the current mayor of Yuba City, California. This is Gill's second term as Mayor (previously 2009-2010). Gill also served on the City Council . Gill is the first Sikh-Elected Mayor in the United States

Mayor Gill was elected to the City Council November 2006. Programs that are important to Mayor Gill all lead to Public Safety: flood protection, easing traffic congestion, and reduction in crime.

He graduated from the Graduate Schools of Banking (Boulder, Colorado), California State University at Chico (Agricultural Business), Yuba Community College, Yuba City High School and Barry School.

Mayor Gill is Senior Vice President/Regional Branch Administrator at Butte Community Bank and farms peaches, prunes and walnuts in Sutter County. He has been married for 22 years to Neena Gill. They have three children: Harveen, Rajan, and Preya.

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KASH GILL, Member, City Council YUBA CITY
elected Nov. 07, 2006

Member, City Council YUBA CITY
37/37 100.00%
Vote Count Percent
NP - LESLIE GALE MCBRIDE 6,676 22.68%
NP - KASH GILL 6,542 22.23%
NP - TEJ MAAN 6,216 21.12%
NP - CRAIG ALAN STARKEY 5,512 18.73%
NP - JEFFREY SPENCER 4,417 15.01%
WRITE-IN 67 0.23%
Total 29,430 100.00%

• Kash Gill has been a resident of our community for more than 40 years
• . Kash works for Butte Community Bank as Administrative Vice-President/Regional Manager and has over18 years of banking experience.
• Kash is a graduate of Graduate School of Banking, Colorado, where he recently completed his graduate degree in banking.
• Kash is very active in our Community and continues to serve in many leadership roles. He has been a two time chairman of the board of the Yuba Sutter Chamber of Commerce, and the founding member of the Economic Development Corporation.
• Kash and Neena Gill have been married for 19 years and have three children, Harveen, Rajan and Preya.
• Kash and Neena also farm peaches, prunes, & walnuts in Sutter County.
• Kash has been a life long Republican and has worked with Governor Schwarzenegger northern finance committee.
• Kash is being endorsed by the Yuba City Firefighters, Yuba Sutter Farm Bureau, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, and 5 former Mayors: Karen Cartoscelli, David Doolittle, Sandra Hilliard, Bob Barkhouse and Bill Meagher, Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa & Ric Keene.
  
  

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My definition of the American dream may be different than others

Defining and living the American dream
By Leticia Gutierrez/Appeal-Democrat

Visits to a local bank impressed Kash Gill as a youngster. Now, as administrative vice president for Butte Community Bank in Yuba City, he has realized part of his American dream.

"My definition of the American dream may be different than others," he said recently. "Is it a big house, fancy cars? If so, I don't have it yet. If it's a wonderful family and a good job, then, yes, I have it."

Gill, 38, was nominated for the Appeal-Democrat's Spirit of Freedom Awards' "The American Dream."

The longtime Yuba City resident was born in India and came to the Yuba-Sutter area with his parents and siblings when he was 2 years old. Now, more than 35 years later, his entire family - including his parents, brothers and sisters and their families, plus his wife's family - remains in Yuba City.

He doesn't think of leaving the area, except "maybe retiring to Lake Tahoe."

"When my parents arrived they had a lot of obstacles," he said. "Their priorities were getting a job, putting the kids in school and getting a house."

The Gill family, including the children, worked in farm labor when they arrived in Yuba City in the 1960s. Gill's father had been a mechanic in India.

"I couldn't try out for football" in high school, Gill said, not because he couldn't play but "because we had to work."

Other students would come back to school talking about their summer vacations while he had spent the time getting up at 5 a.m. until about the age of 13 to work in the orchards.

Playing a sport didn't matter to his parents, he said, adding that none of his cousins had time to play sports, either. His parents considered the idea of playing a game as, "What was more important, luxury sports or earning a family living?" he explained.

Though the 1981 Yuba City High School graduate would have liked to try out as a wide receiver, he's not sorry he wasn't allowed to play. "I'm glad I did it because it makes me appreciate who I am today."

And farming continues in his life: He and his wife purchased 60 acres of land in 1994, and his parents still farm peaches and prunes.

His generation, however, is raising children differently, Gill said. The children still help out at the family farms but parents don't have the kids work as hard on the ranch as they did.

"I want to make sure my kids don't have a tough life," he said, but he also wants to make sure they understand they have to work for a good life. "They have a better life than I did growing up."

Gill's priorities right now are that his wife, Nina, and their three children - Harveen, 12, Rajan, 9, and Preya, 3 - have a nice house, that he have a nice job and that the children's future and education, an important part of the American dream, are planned.

"You can take money away, but you've still got family, your health and education," he said. He intends that his children "have all the help they need to accomplish their goals in life."

Gill thought about studying law but decided on a bachelor's degree in agriculture business from California State University, Chico. The major combined his background of growing up on a farm and having parents working on the ranch with his interest in banking.

Ever since accompanying his father to the bank in his youth, "I thought being a banker was such a prestigious thing," he said. "It was interesting to be a banker."

The busy local resident is in his 15th year in the banking industry. He is also heavily involved with his family and the community.

"Parents have to be 110 percent involved with their kids' school, their after-school activities and homework," he said. Being from two cultures, "you pull out values from both cultures."

He emphasizes to his children that they should earn an honest living, work hard and be themselves, he said.

The older children already know about community service, working with their dad while he does projects such as the Yuba City Noon Rotary Club's Christmas tree at The Mall at Yuba City.

Gill is also a member of the Yuba-Sutter Chamber of Commerce, currently serving on its executive committee; a director of the Tierra Buena Sikh Temple; chairman of the Fremont-Rideout Hospital Foundation Board; vice chairman of Family Intervention Foundation; and worked on the school bond measure to fund the building of new schools in Yuba City.

"I like being involved in the community" in activities other than those that are work related, he said. "My family's roots are here, my wife's family is here, the kids are at the same elementary school as I was. It's a wonderful community. If you want to get involved, there's lots to do."