I guess some people have nothing better to do than complain

While doing my typical tour of the city, erasing graffiti and emptying bus stop garbage cans, I had something happen that totally caught me off guard.  I had someone complain to me for having my flashers on.

Since 2005, Through Pacific Partnerships, I have emptied the garbage cans at 8 of the bus stops in Pacific.  This is for the “Adopt a Stop” program that METRO has.  In exchange for this service, the City of Pacific gets about 600 one day Bus Passes each year that we distribute through the Senior and Youth programs, the Court and occasionally through police and fire.  It is a nice win/win partnership.  When I am parked on the shoulder of the road I turn my flashers on for safety.

When I do my weekly drives through town looking for graffiti, I will also turn my flashers on both when I stop, but also to signal to other drivers that I may be driving slower than normal, looking for graffiti.  Again this is for safety.

Today, believe it or not, a former City Council member actually stopped me and complained about me having my flashers on.  I guess that some people have nothing better to do than complain.

So if you happen to drive by and see me on the side of the road emptying trash or scrubbing graffiti, understand that my flashers are on for safety.

We have accomplished alot, but still have much to do

Since taking office as the Mayor of Pacific, we have accomplished many things and scored many victories however there is unfinished business I still wish to accomplish. It is because of this unfinished business that I have decided to run for another term.  It is my hope that over this next four years you will see the ground work that we have already made come to fruition.

When I first took office in January of 2004 the City of Pacific was a much different place. Our City had Millions of dollars of debt, one park and a growing crime problem that was chiefly caused by drug and gang activity.  We worked together, the city, our business community and our citizens to find a new way of getting things done.  I am proud of that accomplishment.  Now seven years later and in spite of the greatest recession in decades, our community is much stronger.  We have paid off most of that debt and adopted new policies that require the city to be fiscally responsible.  We now have dozens of smaller parks scattered throughout the community and adding to our overall quality of life.  We have taken that crime problem head on and now made the City of Pacific one of the safer communities in our nation.  We aggressively combat graffiti and gang activity.  We have a zero tolerance for drugs and aggressively pursue those who wish to manufacture or distribute in or near our city limits.  Because of actions we took in 2004 to correct the direction of this city we now have a better place to live today.  I want those corrections to continue.

I am proud of what we have accomplished in making our community better prepared for disasters. In 2004 we had a ¼ page, boilerplate emergency plan that had as much relevance to Pacific as protecting Walruses did in the BP Gulf Oil Spill program.  We now have a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan that is realistic, proactive and cutting edge.  Our new volunteer management plan that we will be adopting this spring will be state of the art in our nation and continues our philosophy of finding better ways of accomplishing the essential roles government needs to fill.  I am proud of the training that I myself have taken and the fact that this training and our actions have received national attention including a “Risk Innovator Award” from Risk and Insurance Magazine.  We are a small city, with limited resources but that does not mean we need to limit ourselves to hand me down plans and hand outs from other governments.  We can help set our own destiny.

I am proud of what we have created with Pacific Partnerships and the White River Valley Lions Club.  I have long believed that government typically looks at a community backwards.  They look at a community as a glass half empty and then try to create programs to fill that glass.  This is the philosophy that has hampered government now that costs are rising far faster than revenues.  Instead, I believe it is important to look at a community as a glass half full and if we work as Facilitators, developing and bringing together the resources and power already present in our community that glass fills itself.  This is exactly what has happened with Pacific Partnerships and the WRV Lions.  One of the best things I have ever accomplished as Mayor was to help with the birth of these great organizations and then get out of the way to let them do their jobs.  To be honest, if I had not gotten out of the way, I would most likely have foot prints running up and down my back as they have far surpassed anything I would have imagined at the beginning.  I believe you empower citizens and business to make positive change in your community and you do not interfere with their ability to do so.

We still have unfinished business though.  Over this next year we will be looking at including the option of building Mixed Use in some of our current Highway Commercial zoned areas.  In these tough economic times it is critical that we develop every tool we can to help attract good businesses and good jobs to our area.  With Mixed Use we not only will address the need of safe and affordable housing but we will attract new retail and keep some of the sales tax we are currently spending in our own city.  This goes back to my goal of 70% of our revenues should be provided by attracting more business. This takes the pressure off of local property taxes.  It also makes our city more self sufficient and secure.

We have unfinished business in finding long term solutions to flooding in and around the White River.  Although we will never return to the days of wholesale dredging and mining of the gravel, we can create maintenance programs that at least help keep the problems from getting worse.  Over this past year, recommendations coming from the Executive Task Force working in Pierce County include realistic maintenance and removal of excessive gravel bars and debris.  We can work with nature, improve salmon habitat and make our rivers safer for our valley communities.

I talked about the cutting edge volunteer plan that we are proposing this year.  Included in this plan will be creating training and exercise programs for not just city staff and responders, but also volunteers including our businesses.  We are creating a tiered system of volunteers that will create documented training programs for citizens to take leadership in their community during times of disaster.  In keeping with our philosophy of empowerment of citizens and business this too will be largely managed by partnering between all sectors of our community.

I am excited about our future.  Just as I am proud of how far we have come over these past few years, we are just getting started.  In terms of population the City of Pacific is the 99^th largest city in the State of Washington.  In terms of what our

New Years .... Time to reflect and resolve

As we get ready for the start of the New Year it is important to look back on the past year and reflect.  To look at the accomplishments you have made and to look at those issues you have regrets about. The New Year’s is a time to set aside old wounds, make amends and start fresh with new challenges and goals.  2010 was a year of both growth and of failure.  For 2011, I make it one of my resolutions to continue the growth and to work to change the failures into accomplishments.

I am proud of what I have accomplished in both emergency management and in teaching.  Continuing the Master Trainer Program at EMI, I have made a lot of progress on a class that I am writing. FEMA has paid for me to fly to EMI in Maryland to learn how to write training programs for Emergency Management.  I am using this training to write a class to teach other small town elected officials how to develop EM programs for their jurisdictions.  I see this as one of the big gaps we have in our nation’s overall preparedness and who better to write the program than someone who has been there.  In addition what I have brought back to our city has been invaluable.  First it has moved us forward in our own Emergency Operations planning and second it has qualified us for Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) funds.  We are currently contracting with a consultant, using EMPG funds, to write our “Volunteer / Emergency Worker Plan” to be adopted with our next round of updates to our CEMP (Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan).  Although this has cost me over $35,000 to date in lost wages, as I plan on continuing in Emergency Management after I retire as an Electrician and Elected Official I look at this as an investment in my future. Over this past year, DHS also flew me to Alabama to attend school in Weapons of Mass Destruction awareness and to earn my Instructor Training Certificate.  FEMA and DHS fund various training programs around the country known as the training consortium.  (http://training.dps.mo.gov/trainingwebsite.nsf/LinksView/A87440DDFF5D4CB9862574F900080E11?Opendocument )

I have taken advantage of these programs to improve our city’s capabilities in planning for, responding to, recovering from and mitigating against disasters. Since taking office as Mayor in 2004, I have completed 10 weeklong programs at EMI and 4 at the CDP.  I have classes already scheduled for next year at EMI and TEEX.  I have also submitted bids to teach 3 classes at EMI.  In addition I have taken multiple online programs including AWR 160 (WMD Standard Awareness) from CTOS, WMD AWR 201 (Introduction to SNS and Mass Prophylaxis) and WMD PER303 (Emergency Management) from TEEX; four courses from Louisiana State University’s National Center for Biomedical Research and Training – Academy of Counter-Terrorist Education, 276 - Prevention and Deterrence of Terrorist Acts: An Overview for All Disciplines, 615 - Disaster Mental Health Considerations During a Weapons of Mass Destruction/Terrorist Incident, 275 - Law Enforcement Prevention and Deterrence of Terrorist Acts, 610 - Foundational Awareness of WMD/Terrorism.  In 2011 I will also be taking classes from American Military University to complete my Bachelor of Science in Emergency Management.  I enrolled in 2010 but was unable to attend classes due to finances.

So what are the issues I wish to make amends for? As Mayor, one thing I have discovered there will always be someone who gets upset, feels slighted by or otherwise dislikes your actions.  This year there are three that I want to clear up and see resolved in 2011.

First is the ongoing tension between a local business owner and myself. Although this person has made claims that the city is picking on him and/or that I am out to get him for supporting my opponent in 2008, I want to state here and now “I have nothing against this person or his businesses”.  If he was to walk in my office today, he will be given the same consideration as any other person.  Although we may have differences on permitted land use issues (As Mayor, I have to support the law), I would love to settle our differences in 2011 and move on.

Second, is the ongoing feud between the City and the former 501 C 3 that worked with our Community Service programs.  I do not wish anyone involved ill will nor do I wish to see anyone feel they are not welcome to come to our centers.  I would like to see this issue settled and put behind us and will always be open to sitting down and talking.

Finally is the tension between the city and its bargaining unit members (Unionized Employees).  I know we will not always see eye to eye on issues.  I know that some of you feel the city has been less than truthful with you. But I would like for you to look at this from a different perspective for a minute.

As Mayor, I must protect the interest of the city at all times.  This means being fiscally responsible, making sacrifices and sometimes making tough choices.  Our City, like the rest of the nation has just gone through one of the toughest economic times in history.  Many jurisdictions, similar in size and revenues as Pacific saw drastic cuts, some as much as 60%.  We cut 20%, partially because you were willing to work with us.  When I took office in 2004 we had little carry over in revenues, a lot of debt and some of the lowest paid Police Officers in the State of Washington.  I asked you to work with me and together we turned this city around.  By 2006 we had built the general fund reserves back to what is considered sound (2-3 months); both bargaining units received new contracts with competitive wages, and we were looking forward to a bright future and a strong economy.  This past few years has been anything but a strong economy or a bright future.  Those reserves are all but gone now as we juggled the budget around to keep from having to lay off any of our employees.  As those reserves dwindled, so did some of the trust we had between us.

This is what my plan is over this next year both fiscally and to rebuild that trust.  We will hold quarterly Labor / Management meetings where we will include discussions over where the city is financially.  Things are getting better, but our first priority is to rebuild that reserve that cushioned us from this past recession.  This is not just something we want but is required as sound fiscal management and by law.  I will also make myself available to meet as a group at your meetings to answer questions and to start building that trust back.  And as always my door is open at any time if you wish to talk.