I would first like to thank our host Brian for giving me some space on this website. I had thought of perhaps starting my own but this one seems to be working quite well.
I wanted to tell you some of the great things that have been happening in our city since I took office. First and most important is that we hired a new City Manager. As stated in the press, Tim Hansley brings over 35 years of experience in public administration. His broad-based background and experiences have been instrumental in each and every aspect of the city’s successes this year. Trust me when I say that there is no “Mayor 101” after you get sworn in. As I learned after I was appointed to council, it is a trial by fire learning experience. You can’t imagine how lucky I am to have had Tim on board and willing to step in and take the lead in the daily operations of this city while counseling me in the finer points of being Mayor. I didn’t know Tim all that well before taking office but within the first couple of weeks of my term, Tim and I attended a quarterly meeting of Central Ohio Mayors and Managers sponsored by Mayor Coleman. Nearly all Central Ohio communities were represented. Each and every representative from our neighboring communities took the time to meet me and tell me how lucky I was to have Tim. They all have had him or wanted him for some position in their community. That, to me, was like conducting a City Manager search and interviews in less than 3 hours. Having participated in the last City Manager search in Pickerington, I can tell you that it was a laborious and time consuming endeavor. I am also fortunate that council unanimously supported me in hiring Tim and that set a tone of cooperation among the elected officials that carries through today.
I have been very fortunate so far in how this new council and Mayor have synergized and put past differences behind us to continuously look forward and not backward. I am thankful at the professionalism and respect that we have acquired as a group. We do not always agree on each and every issue nor will we or should we. Without differences of opinion, I would have a really boring job and we can never learn if we don’t hear more than one side of any story. While we do not always agree, we have treated each other with respect, courtesy and dignity. Gone are the tensions, antagonism and disrespect of the past. Gone is the apparent “us versus them” mentality when it comes to debate and voting and most importantly how we present ourselves to the media. Gone is the apparent majority on every issue. Our voting record proves that.
This council is facing issues seldom faced before. As reported in the media and elsewhere in this blog, an almost certain deficit and proposing an income tax increase is a new matter. And again, the decision to move forward with Issue 14 was not unanimous. More on council voted to move forward the combination of a tax proposal and tax credit adjustment than voted against it. Two councilmen voted against it. Those two earned my respect in their stand. They presented their cases thoughtfully, logically and respectfully. In the end, although outvoted, they nonetheless join together with the group in looking forward with what is best for the city. Whether Issue 14 is accepted by the voters or turned down, I am lucky to have seven people willing to face the challenges of the voters’ decision.
Budget season is usually a rather stressful time. We schedule plenty of meetings to thoroughly review each facet of preparation for the upcoming year. Many of us give up a lot of personal time from October until the budget is adopted to assure that we work with staff to turn over every rock to accomplish as much as possible for our residents going forward. This year that stress is multiplied with Issue 14. While we are confident that the proposal we moved forward to the ballot, while certainly no panacea of solutions, is a fair and sensible approach. However, there will be those who fear voting for any new tax given the fiscal uncertainty we now face from a global perspective. We hope to be able to explain in a personalized manner how voting yes or no affects you. We also hope that when you hear people speaking out against Issue 14 and it raises questions in your mind that you contact city staff or the elected officials with your questions.
Further evidence of the commitment of council to work together in facing the fiscal challenges facing the city include is the landmark action of having all seven members sit on the Finance Committee. Ongoing exposure to the fiscal challenges makes for a much more learned council during budget preparation and results in far less surprises in the fall. Additionally, two new subcommittees were formed to meet and deal with financial matters. The Income and Expense subcommittees of Finance worked long hours in seeking avenues for cost savings and additional sustainable sources of income. The constructive products of these meetings will play a factor in next year’s budget regardless of the outcome of Issue 14. It demonstrates due diligence on the part of council and the seriousness they place on being stewards of the public money.
Another demonstration of the unity of this council is the campaign for Issue 14. We decided as a group to let the city staff run the campaign. Our concerns in the participation of the elected officials were that residents would feel we were politicizing the issue or that we had personal or political motives behind our position on the issue. Nothing could be further from the truth; however, by allowing staff to run the campaign, you will hear the facts and figures that the staff deals with each and every day in a totally nonpolitical manner. You will hear about our debt, the programs that we have not been able to fund, the missed opportunities for grants from the State, statistics from our Police Department showing how increasingly difficult it is to serve and protect this city with diminishing resources. What you won’t hear are political perspectives on how or why we accumulated the debt, whether it was a good idea or not, no political perspectives on why certain programs went unfunded while others remained funded, and so on. How we got numbers approaching $30M in debt is inconsequential at this point. It is there and that is a fact we have to deal with. Same with the rest. We can’t stand here and look backward. We are charged with dealing with the present and trusted to deal with the future.
So all that being said, you can see that the stress of this budget season is multiplied by “If Issue 14 passes” or “If Issue 14 fails.”
More about the fantastic year this has been so far will follow. Being a part-time Mayor with full-time duties there and having another full-time job and being a full-time parent and husband leaves little time for posting here all at once. I plan to highlight more of 2008 and share some of what my focus will be in 2009 including the 09 election when we have 4 council seats up. I also plan to do a reality check on things I said during my campaign, what residents told me and how we are listening and planning to deal with them. I will spotlight some of the fantastic responses we have had to my reenergized Volunteers in Pickerington program making sure I give credit where credit is due and some of the direction that will be taking.
It has been a year where a lot has been both accomplished and started. No man is an island so I will never let you think I did anything alone. Council and staff have rallied to meet my challenges. Members of the community have also stood up to be counted. I want to acknowledge them so you can see what community involvement reaps when sown and properly tended.
I also want to talk about Issues 13 & 24 and what they mean to our city.
Until then, I look forward to your responses. I will get to them as quickly as time permits so I ask your patience. Remember that unlike other blogs out there, this one is moderated. You post, it is reviewed, and if it doesn’t contain personal attacks or other acrimony, it will be posted. I won’t just only post responses that agree with me. Apparently we cannot mandate that you put your name to your posting but we hope you do. Certainly you can appreciate that putting your name to your posting gives it much more credence than anonymous postings.
Respectfully,
Mitch O’Brien
