Sewers:

Currently our city's sewer system is failing and we now have raw sewage flowing through dirt.  This is not only a hazard to our homes it is hazardous to our health as this untreated waste could seep into our drinking water.  If the voids that the sewage runs through collapse, the effected families will be forced from their homes until the repairs are made.  The council has known about our failing system for over ten years and has failed to raise the funds to fix them.  Lack of action is crippling our city.   

I propose the city utilizes the funds from our emergency reserves along with the increased utility fees to fix the portions of line that are at the most risk.  We are currently paying for architects to plan out the repairs.  We cannot wait for federal or state funds to fix this because the risk of waiting is too great.

Communication:

Our council is stuck in the 19th century.  The only email address posted on our inferior city website is for the mayor.  How can you have open and transparent government if you can't even get a hold of your council members?  You can't!

While on council, I'll focus my efforts to revamping the website to be more user friendly as well as ADA compliant.  We'll develop an easily updated page for each department and the department heads will have the opportunity to write a note on what they have been doing for the previous month.  The councilmembers will all have emails and phone numbers posted for easier accessibility.

The votes of the council will be posted the next day after session in a simple to read and understand format.  This will assure that every citizen will have reasonable access to the information that effects their life in Fircrest.

These are simple and inexpensive ways we can change the climate on our council.  The only way to hold our leadership accountable is to have access to them and know what they are doing.

Business:

The economy is taking its toll on our local businesses and we have vacancies throughout our Town Center.  For too long it appears that the council has not been focused on promoting our city and preventing growth of new businesses. 

We have had a number of restaurants desire to open within our city limits but have not done so because of our Blue City laws passed in the 1970's.  I'm not for bars with in our town but I think a glass of wine with pasta is not an unreasonable request.  We need to explore these option and find out what the citizens really want.  A simple way of doing this would be through an online survey.  The cost would be nominal at worst.

I will work to create a Fircrest Economic Development Board made up of local business and civic professionals. With their guidance, we could grow our tax base by promoting local businesses and enticing developers to build retail shops on the vacant and dilapidated land out on Mildred and Regence.  Fircrest is one of the only city in the state without Business and Occupation (B&O) tax which save local businesses thousands per year.   

We have a great story to tell and with the right guidance from the council, we could once again have a grocery store on Regence and a lively town center feel in Village Square. We need to promote our city as a great place to open shop.

Families:

Our city is well known throughout the region for parks, recreation and family programs.  I am very pleased with the focus and direction our new Recreation Director has been taking in planning and providing for our family programs and the work done by our community club and other dedicated volunteers and local organizations.

I think it is time for a new vision for Fircrest's Recreation Center.  The old building has not been substantially upgraded for over 30 years.  We've done patch work here and there, but I think as the jewel of our community we should start planning and saving for a remodel.  I'd like to explore the possibilities of pushing out the gym so parents aren't crammed into the corners while watching their children play basket ball.  We could look into using the newly vacant property across the street for parking.  I am currently working with other committed citizens on developing a new plan. There is so much opportunity to further serve our citizens and grow our community spirit by developing a grand vision and with your help, we can do it.

City Budget:

As many other cities these days, we are facing nearly $300,000 shortfall in our budget.  The city manager has had to make the tough decision to lay off 2.5 Full Time workers after exhausting all his possible choices.

In our city's history we have never had to lay off an employee.  I believe that we are in the rainy days, and as such only the city council can order the use of emergency funds.  I don't have all the answers on this subject but I am in favor of using a mere 5% of our 3.7 million rainy day fund to spare our employees from becoming another statistic.