Proactive
Knowledgeable

There's a general tendency among people who have authority to become complacent or arrogant, or both.  Whether those people are spending the taxpayer's dime, or imposing restrictions on our quality of life, they should be held accountable. 

My approach to holding authorities accountable is by asking questions.  First I spend time to research and gain the knowledge needed of the subject matter.  Next I ask the important questions of those in authority, the ones deciding how and where tax money is spent – yours and mine alike.  It’s an easy test, if you already have the facts.   When responses reveal accurate data promptly, typically the manager is doing his job well.  Often though, questions produce responses of "I don't know" or obvious evasion.  Why are these responses such big problems?

Poor data leads to poor decisions, wasted time and wasted money.  As your County Commissioner, I will ensure that the facts have been acquired and are being presented accurately.  I will not micro-manage the process, but will certainly double-check that there actually was a process, instead of a short-cut “guessing game”.

Why are detailed processes and close monitoring so important?  When projects using your tax money lack these things, we have fiascos such as: 

  The Blades Trail development (both the run-off, clear-cutting and lost performance bond)  The very late new Sewer Plant Project
  The real estate tax revaluation
  The attempt to send surplus Rescue Squad funds
      (originally tax money and donations) out of County
  Land purchases for schools that turn out to be either unusable or require
       major construction to fix critical problems.

Below is one current example in detail:

Very recently the County received a space needs study, prompted by the pending return of the old hospital building to the County when the new one is finished at the end of the year.  The resulting office space construction forecast is for $140 million -- which is larger than our County's current total debt!

The consultants claim to have surveyed each department to get their data.  They projected county employment to increase 70% over 20 years while county population increases only 30%.  Space needed increases 94%.  It's highly unlikely that the County can afford that kind of expansion without major tax hikes.  The space projection MUST be scaled down to match the staff levels that our County CAN afford.  If this does not occur, we spend much more on construction than needed. 

After speaking with county commissioners, they've agreed to let the Lincoln Economic Development Association market the old hospital for six months to establish whether it can be sold or somehow converted to a tax-paying, jobs creating facility. 
 

Responsive Knowledgeable

The time I put into acquiring the right information and appropriately questioning the authorities and fighting important battles for you, the citizens, has already paid off in several instances.  A few examples are as follows:  

-          A planned landfill planned to be built in 2006 behind a residential development was stopped.

-          Instead of the Rescue Squad sending almost a $1m of taxpayer money out of the County or into projects to benefit a handful of people, our County will be getting a new park.

-          The East Lincoln Sewer Tax was reduced to less than 2 cents from 7.5 cents following discussions with county commissioners by myself and others on the team that the taxes were being used to subsidize expansion of the sewer districts to non-taxpaying areas.  Once the outstanding debt for the original plant is paid off, this tax will vanish!

-          Possible changes to the recent tax revaluation, which included gross errors and biases (still pending).  The next revaluation was moved in one year and is now in progress.

-          Highlighted the great work of School Superintendent Dr. Martin from a seeming attempt to get him fired (in process). 

Those are some well-known issues.  But there are many others, resulting from discussing issues with County Commissioners or the County manager. 

I've been a long-term member of ELBA, ELPAC and The Chamber of Commerce.  I'm a founder of the Lincoln Shoreline Community Organization.

I've managed organizations as large as 50 people, but, more importantly, have grown staff from zero up to 35 people, starting with seed money or investor's money.  I've worked in 6 start-up companies, three of which I co-founded. 

Background

My Dad was a self-employed electrician, and as a youngster I helped him on Saturdays and summers re-wiring older houses.  I had my own tool belt, including the electrician’s pliers shown here.  When a cable had to be run through a hot, ancient attic full of cobwebs, guess who did it?  The young, nimble kid!  I soon hated attics. 

Whenever I showed signs of slacking off in school, my Dad always grabbed the pliers and said, “Don’t worry, if you flunk out, there’s a pair of pliers waiting for you in the truck!”  (Several years ago my Dad finally admitted he had deliberately given me the dirtiest jobs available).  My Dad motivated me to work hard and be successful the old-fashioned way, by earning it!

Now that my children have kids of their own, and I'm retired, I look forward to devoting more of my time to helping the community by listening to the citizens, gathering the right information and acting proactively.