Hello, my name is Palmer Wilson and I lost a primary election in 2009 in New Smyrna Beach. Now for the good news. Henry Frederick has asked me to share my thoughts on the state of the city and some of my ideas on how to fix the problems, by taking on this commentary spot on his website, NSBNEWS.Net.
I have agreed, but with one stipulation: that the content be focused on issues that continue to demand attention within this wonderful city we call home as opposed to any individuals.
Throughout my campaign I discussed a wide variety of issues with people and answered questions about them during the three debates that I participated in. In every instance, people continued to ask for more information about my analysis of the situation and encouraged me to stay engaged in furtherance of overall improvements in the city.
I found that heartwarming and it played a role in my acceptance of Henry's offer. I will therefore keep the content focused on the issues, hopefully explain them in a very objective format and then offer some possible solutions. In doing so I hope to accomplish several things, not the least of which is to keep the issue alive and get it resolved.
Sometime the issues will have linkages and an orderly progression of fixes will be addressed, while in other instances, they may be singular in nature. In any event, at some point we will address most of the issues that desperately need attention in our fair city and which appeared to interest most of the citizens and taxpayers that I encountered during my campaign.
The Issues as I See Them: Rather than jumping right into a specific issue, I thought in this first edition, it would be good to throw some out in order to start the dialogue. And you are encouraged to dialogue and comment on your take and solutions on the issues; you can send me email at the address at the end of the column or by just writing a comment in the blog. By doing that, you can make your voice heard to our elected officials as I will pass on to them my ideas along with your suggestions.
Some of these issues, as I see them and in no particular order, with the exception of issue 1, are:
1. Re-inventing the City government. I saw this as an essential first step in correcting the errors of the past and needed before an new initiatives can be implemented. Essentially this issue is directed at fixing the infrastructure and organizational climate of the city government to foster both a more open and transparent organization to the citizens, while at the same time re-focusing government efforts at genuine and effective economic development that means something.
2. After the re-inventing and re-organizing, reductions in spending and thus reductions in taxes are needed for two reasons. You do not want to drive away your residential tax base by taxing them out of their homes, and secondly, you will never attract quality businesses to open up here if the taxes are too high. Those are basic taxing and real estate 101 level facts and we need to work hard to accomplish the needed spending reductions.
3. As salaries and wages play a major role in the City's overall operating budget, if you want to achieve issue 2, above, you have to address total staffing needs, salaries, and retirement or pension costs. Regardless of how well you do with issues 1 and 2, you will not get to where you need to go without addressing this component and addressing it quickly. NSBNEWS. net has started a "Follow the Money" project, the initial findings of which speak directly to the historic abuses and problems in this area.
4. The issue of city leases and specifically the Anglers Club has been front and center throughout the current election period. They need a complete and structured review and accounting, based upon an evaluation of need, use, revenue, and future roles in broad based economic. Included in the review should be an evaluation of retention or sale by the City. In all facets of the review, the taxpayers of the city need to be made whole on their investment, which is the property itself and it revenue generation and special interest groups should not be allowed to play into these decisions.
5. The involvement of the City in activities which compete with private sector business should be evaluated as to cost effectiveness. Further these activities should not drain any taxpayer funds to operate and be seen as part of the larger development picture. Evaluations should be accomplished as if they were a business and their funding and revenues might be better controlled if they were housed under a separate enterprise fund system that has no ability to access taxpayer funds except under closely controlled and regulated bond or loan authority. Ad hoc Commission spending to private and well meaning organizations should stop and if needed, should be planned and justified under the City's normal budget process.
6. Economic development is a must for the City and quite frankly that generally means hospitality and tourism in NSB. We, as a government, have not been friendly to people seeking to open or expand a business here and we need to change that. The recent CRA consultant made an observation that bears repeating here and that was "NSB government relies too much on regulation and not enough on facilitation.
That about sums up our current economic development efforts and that needs to change. There are many more issues out there that we will be addressing as we continue our journey. They include impact fees, public safety, the CRA, the Southeast Volusia Hospital Authority and other taxing authorities, SE Volusia Chamber of Commerce, reserve fund levels, the role of boards and committees, public access to information and associated government transparency, and the budget itself, focusing on improvements to citizen review and input. If you have more, send them along to me and I will put them on the list.
Remember, this series is intended to improve our city in a positive manner form the citizen side of the podium. Democracy is important and it should live and breathe the strongest at the small town level; let's see what we can do to make it come alive in NSB.
Be talking with you soon.