To Begin at the Beginning again.

Okay, New Mayor, Whole new Council, and Jimbo and I.  Well, I am very hopeful that we can get something stirring soon and have good outcomes for us to make you proud. In a managerial form of government the operations is run by our City Manager and it is up to the Seven of us to form a policy direction that must be obeyed.

As ONE of the SEVEN that serve you, I am going to share some of the specifics that I hope I can get consensus on during the next two years.

Budget - Increase in capitol spending and a decrease in personnel. I am hopeful though shared services with other governments in and around Highland Park we can gain a much greater efficiency. We also need to understand the realities of what we need to provide to residents.
Environmental Initiatives - The best way to approach energy conservation is through incentives and providing best practice examples. Just like the Prius cars I convinced staff to buy many years ago, we need to now demonstrate that electric vehicles can now make a difference. We must show geothermal applications for heating and cooling at city hall and the Library. How do we integrate wind turbines and solar panels onto our existing buildings? When you talk about planning and zoning, establish laws that prevent neighboring properties from blocking sunlight to peoples homes.  Stormwater discussions have gone on for many years but it is time we enacted laws on incentifying sustainable methodologies to collect stormwater for reuse instead of flushing it down to the Gulf of Mexico. And let's not forget the street-ends.... need to raise private money to work with our governmental sustainability fund to improve the street-end overlooks as the picture windows onto our Great Lake Michigan.
Governance -  I am hopeful that the staff will be much more aligned to the values of consensus of the City Council than I have seen in the past. We should not be pitched curves and sinkers that result in fouls and ground outs. The pitches should be slow, straight down over the plate, and easy to hit home runs. Maybe not every time, but I am looking for high scoring events!

LATER GATOR!