I welcome my opponent to the race for City Council Post 1. I wrote a letter to the editor a few months ago outlining how to become a Peachtree City Council member (“PTC’s Imker gives step-by-step plan to becoming council member,” The Citizen, 01/18/2011) in hopes that more citizens would become involved in their government at the local level. Having contested races promotes open conversations between candidates which is a necessary and beneficial part of the election process.
My record on city council is out there and available for everyone to see. My first and foremost priority when taking office 22 months ago was getting the city budget under control. Over 30 years experience in program management and engineering has given me the business mindset needed to undertake and lend guidance to the process of turning around the current direction of our fiscal situation; one which I believe was leading the city to a financial disaster.
I knew we had budget issues when previous councils began using reserves to balance the budget without putting any future correction mechanism in place. My initial assessment was based on preliminary and partial information that hid the true magnitude of the problem.
I discovered after taking office that the problem wasn’t just a few million dollars, but nearly $21 million. My goal of helping solve the budgetary issues facing the city in just two years became unrealistic. To leave my post halfway through the process, with much work left to be done, would be unfair to the city and the citizens that trusted in my resolve when they elected me.
It is difficult for me to speak highly of myself; however, I am proud of the accomplishments I have been able to achieve in my two years in office. Ten of these accomplishments include:
(1) Identifying the huge budget problem inherited on election and having made several motions to solve it without reducing services or increasing taxes.
(2) Consistently monitoring the budget to ensure there would not be any new tax increases in 2012.
(3) Leading the council to consolidate and pay off three unfavorable loans the city had on its books which resulted in saving the city nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
(4) Bringing forth a change to our investment policy that enables more revenue. (An opportunity that had existed for some time but never acted upon.)
(5) Creating and presenting three important budget policy changes designed to control spending and guide future management of our city’s budget. These policies now hang on the walls at City Hall.
(6) Initiating the restructuring of our city employee benefits program, an unpopular but necessary change.
(7) Proposing a “Facilities Authority” enabling us to begin the repair of our neglected infrastructure. The first bond with this authority includes structuring the loan at around 2 percent, saving the taxpayers over half a million dollars.
(8) Insisting the council not spend $850,000 to widen a perfectly good cart path bridge over Lake Peachtree; with a notion that Obama stimulus “shovel ready” money would help fund the project but as I predicted, never came.
(9) Sounding the alarm about our Water and Sewer Authority and their doubling of rates. (More discussion will be forthcoming on this topic.)
(10) Leading enhanced code enforcement for multiple, repeat violators.
Bottom line, my efforts thus far have advanced the city’s vision and saved the taxpayers’ money. All of us on council understand the money that is entrusted to us belongs to the citizens. Every council meeting presents an opportunity to spend money. The record shows that I am the stalwart making sure that if it has to be spent, it is on worthwhile items for the best value.
Fellow citizens, I understand our city’s budget inside and out. We have a five-year plan to return our city to financial stability. That plan has already paid off. There was no tax increase this year because of the careful planning.
This is what you expect from council and this is what I and my fellow council members that supported this direction have delivered.
If we continue with the plan and the vision I have outlined, I believe we won’t need any more taxes increases ever. A bold statement indeed but one that I can make because I have the facts.
Many folks know this first-hand because more than 50 citizens attended my public budget meetings over the last year and a half. Citizen input has always been the driving force behind my work. I’m ready for the coming debates because I have and always will answer your questions in detail, with completeness, and without bias, especially in regards to the budget.
If you have been to the council meetings, or kept up with the activities in our city government through the papers, then you know I have the courage to step up when leadership is required, to propose the sometimes controversial and to make the hard decisions.
Am I a polished politician? Far from it. I realize I am not the best in following “political correctness.” I am passionate about this effort and believe you elected me to work from the facts and the truth and to look out for your money as a taxpayer. I will continue to do this at every turn.
Peachtree City has an exciting and bright future ahead but we have to be willing to elect leaders who are unafraid to make the tough decisions and keep their focus on both the city’s vision and its budget. I appreciate your continued support in this extremely important endeavor.
P.S. For those who don’t know me: I retired from the Air Force in 1994. Over half my career was in the Star Wars program initiated by President Reagan. I managed a successful billion-dollar satellite program and was the program manager of the primary payload on space shuttle mission #39, STS Discovery.
My experience includes 9 years in Michigan managing General Motors electrical systems for over 20 vehicles prior to coming to Peachtree City in 2003 to work at Panasonic as the program manager for all General Motors products (over one billion dollars in sales annually) engineered by Panasonic in the U.S.
Education: BS Engineering from San Jose State University, MS Computer Systems from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and a graduate level degree in Program Management from the Defense Systems Management College, Ft Belvoir, Va.
Eric Imker
City Council Post #1 candidate
Peachtree City, Ga.
