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Public Comments - Speeches
Monmouth City Council Inauguration Ceremy
January 2, 2001Tonight is special. As we close a chapter of service, we open another.
Tom Hall and John Sparks gave their time, their talent and their energy - Monmouth is stronger for it.
Tom, John - you have helped make Monmouth a community we can all be proud of.
As we sit here tonight, the first meeting in the year 2001 - we can forecast some weather on the horizon.
Our "ship of state" is being tossed around a little, and there are many different opinions about what to do.
Monmouth Pharmacy, Marketplace & the decline of our retail base are on our minds.
In the coming squall we must measure twice, cut once. We must rationally weigh our alternatives and make decisions in the best interest of our citizens, and the citizens yet to come.
We are not afforded the privilege of short-term thinking or bias.
All of us know that over the next several months our community will be confronted with some choices to make, some consequences to own.
But we also know that over the next several months, and beyond, we can achieve some important things.
We can fight for the placement of the new Public Safety Academy.
We can fight for our partner, Western Oregon University, at the legislature.
We can fight for more control over how we grow - over how we develop our community.
We can emphasize the issues surrounding quality of life by implementing a Quality of Life Initiative - a provision within our code that protects our citizens by enumerating expected rights and responsibilities.
We can pool our resources and make the 2001 Youth Summit the beginning of a shift in favor of community-led investment in our children.
We can fashion an economic development function for our city - and begin the process of turning our downtown plan into our downtown reality.
We can help Jeff and his technology team implement the opportunities at hand - to realize benefits similar to Ashland for our citizens.
We can expand the bi-monthly "Community All-Calls" to include non-profits, student groups and service clubs.
We can seek out new ways to involve and invest our citizenry into everyday processes of self-government.
Through community watch, through an expansion of the citizens traffic commission and a retooling of the substance abuse task force we can give more people the opportunity to share themselves and their ideas with our community.
And we can celebrate the strides in volunteerism made over the past few years by giving the non-profits a hand - through establishing the community volunteer clearinghouse.
These possibilities are just that - ideas that can be - if we as a body so choose.
These possibilities are not a comprehensive list however, far from it.
Each of us was elected - each of us has a particular range of interests and expectations.
This is precisely why I am so hopeful about the coming years.
We have a lot to talk about, much work to be done.
Accordingly, we will begin our new meeting cycle next month.
Our "traditional" formal meetings will remain on the first Tuesday of the month and we will hold work sessions on the third Tuesday of each month.
This new format will allow us more time to analyze policy questions and provide input for the staff.
Soon we will also re-deploy ourselves among the citizen boards and commissions.
It is time to shuffle the deck, to allow councilors and board members an opportunity to learn new things about each other, about our community.
I ask from each councilor a list of their service preferences so I can re-allocate the seats this month.
There are miles to go before this council sleeps - but it is going to be an enjoyable trek.
In conclusion, I want to add that I feel privileged to have been given a second term and I pledge to this community, to this council my level-best over the coming years.
