I’m very pleased with the three years that I’ve been on council. During that time, we’ve streamlined and improved city services, even added some services; we’ve instituted the very popular, family-friendly Main Street Event series; we’ve managed reasonably well the issues created by two huge construction projects in the city; we’ve continued and expanded our cash CIP program addressing street and alley repair; and we’ve begun to address a long standing issue with water pressure in certain parts of town.
During that same three years, like everyone else, we’ve had to contend with a national recession, declining revenues and increasing costs. Despite those obstacles, we’ve done very well - all without raising taxes and without borrowing. We have fully funded our reserves and have even increased those reserves somewhat. We had a small budget surplus for FY 2010 and project another for FY 2011. The projected budgets for 2012 through 2014 look pretty solid, so far. We don’t have a crystal ball, and anything’s possible, but we’ve managed very well – and I’m confident that whatever fate throws at us, we’ll continue to do well. I say “we” because all of the above is the result of the collective efforts of seven Council members, the City Manager, her staff and a lot of hard working employees.
I might add that your entire Council is fiscally conservative, and contrary to some assertions to the contrary, dedicated to continuing on that path. The plan is to continue to live within our means.
I am particularly excited about two new projects: My Community, My Money, My Choice and RealizeRowlett 2020. These are two extraordinary and unique attempts to engage our citizens, all citizens, in both the budget process and the updating of our vision for the City in conjunction with the economic development and build-out to follow the completion of the PGBT and DART light rail. I am not aware of comparable programs or efforts anywhere else in the region, perhaps not in the state.
Rowlett belongs to its citizens and never before have they had such an opportunity to participate in shaping its future. This is important because the vision for Rowlett, as embodied in the new Comprehensive Plan, will determine how we go about that development in order to create a sustainable community for the long term. It won’t be, and shouldn’t be, the Council’s vision, the vision of developers or other special interest groups, or the vision of the usual suspects, the few folks who participate regularly in city political affairs – but rather the vision of all 56,000 residents, or as close to that as we can get.
Likewise, citizen input into the budget process will provide us the information we need as we formulate future budgets. Unfortunately, barring a dramatic turn-around in the economy, I think hard choices are still ahead. It's your money we're spending, so its important that you be part of the process of deciding how that money is to be spent.
Three years ago I posted here a summary of my campaign platform and asked you to judge my performance over the next three years against that platform. The only thing I promised then, and am promising you now, is that I will be a part of an effort to construct a solid foundation upon which to build a sustainable community. The payoff is still many years away, well beyond my time on Council, so the plans and processes we put into place now to guide our efforts and those of future councils are important, very important.
I am pleased to have served on this Council and would appreciate your support in continuing the good news for Rowlett.
