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