City councils, like other organizations, work best when they are operating under common goals and are functioning, as a team. This will be my approach, should I be elected to Peachtree City Council Post 1.
In addition to the City Council, the city management and staff are also members of this team working toward specific goals as well. Credit should be acknowledged and given to all the members of the team for their work versus one person taking that credit for themselves.
While reading Eric Imker’s article last week, I was struck by this lack of recognition by Eric to the other members of the team for their efforts. I quote Eric Imker: “It is difficult for me to speak highly of myself; however…”
As an example, here are two of what Eric Imker cites as “his accomplishments” for which he takes the credit:
“Identifying the huge budget problem inherited on election and having made several motions to solve it without reducing services or increasing taxes.”
Eric, you were not the only the City Council member or city staff member to identify budget problems and come up with ideas on how to solve them.
But, you did raise taxes in 2011 (1.25 mill rate tax increase) and have cut services as well (Fire Department dive team de-funded, new police car replacement reduced from 10 new cars to nine new cars, etc.).
“Consistently monitoring the budget to ensure there would not be any new tax increases in 2012.” Eric, you are not the only City Council member or city staff member who is monitoring the budget or trying to ensure there will not be any new tax increases.
But, you tried to raise the Peachtree City hotel/motel tax in 2011, which failed on the first round. Your hotel/motel tax increase proposal is scheduled to come up for another vote.
In addition to giving credit to those who deserve it, keeping your commitments is necessary in promoting good teamwork.
Eric, you committed in 2009 to Peachtree City that you would only serve one term and not seek re-election. However, you have now decided that you are too important to Peachtree City to let this commitment get in the way of your political career.
That is not in the best interest of Peachtree City. Commitments need to be kept and not cast aside for personal political gain.
It is time to do things differently and, for the better. I believe that having common goals is the first step in facilitating good teamwork. The goals I want to be measured on are the ones I also believe all the City Council should be measured on as well. These goals are:
· Home values
· Quality of life
· Sustainable village plan and model
Will there be different ideas by the various City Council members on how to achieve and measure these goals? Most likely, but having a set of common goals, I have found, is the best way to keep a team on track versus each team member pursuing their own goals based upon their own motivations.
To this end, as one of my key goals, “Sustainable village plan and model,” I would like to focus on a proposed plan for Peachtree City’s village concept by DAPC.
I met with Todd Strickland, chairman of DAPC, and was quite impressed with what has been accomplished by this organization on a very small budget. One of DAPC’s projects is their Village Center plan for Peachtree City’s retail business.
This plan was led by DAPC working in cooperation with Peachtree City, Georgia Tech and local individuals and organizations and focuses on Peachtree City’s uniqueness and strengths for retail.
We agreed that presenting this plan to the public is a good start to get this issue moving forward. The meeting date and time for this presentation will be forthcoming.
In addition, Todd Strickland has proposed having annual economic development conferences for Peachtree City, which I wholeheartedly support and encourage our City Council to participate in. We need to spend more time in these economic development endeavors.
I have met with our new City Council Post 2 member, George Dienhart, and he agrees that DAPC does have economic development strengths for Peachtree City and they should be supported. He also believes in having DAPC present their Village Concept Plan for retail to the public to get the ball rolling on this issue.
When it comes to Peachtree City’s overall approach to economic development, which involves multiple entities, we need to define what the roles and responsibilities we want accomplished are and, then determine which entity (DACP, FCDA, etc.) is best able to perform them. This can be done utilizing a cooperative team approach with these entities versus a confrontational approach.
Without roles and responsibilities being identified and understood, confusion and conflict inevitability occur between those entities with the end result being less than optimal results. Examples of areas of economic development roles and responsibilities are:
· Coordinating new business efforts with the appropriate state of Georgia departments
· Proactively recruiting good paying jobs for PTC
· Assisting in new construction of companies (small to large)
· Filling empty retail space
· Redevelopment activities for industrial, commercial and residential areas
· Existing business retention and expansion efforts
· Potentially building IT, college and professional centers
I believe that once these roles and responsibilities are identified and agreed to between the different entities, we can move forward in a more productive way with better results than where we are today for Peachtree City’s economic development.
As your Peachtree City Council member Post 1 representative, I will work toward facilitating a common goals team approach for our City Council based upon cooperation versus confrontation for the best interest of Peachtree City. I will also work cooperatively with our economic development entities (DAPC, FCDA, etc.) for the benefit of Peachtree City.
Steve Allen
Candidate for City Council Post 1
Peachtree City, Ga.
