Remarks made to the Democratic Caucus, August 10, 2011

First, thank you for being here tonight. This big turn out confirms to me that the Village is alive and well. On a personal note, this turn out also says to me I have many very kind and generous friends and supporters, and I very, very much appreciate your support.

I want to be brief, and I know you want me to be brief. So here is a quick summary of my top six goals.

1) "No" to dissolution. I do not think anyone in our community--village residents or town outside residents--will be well served by the village dissolving. I believe local interests deserve local representation. If you think the Village needs to make some changes, good. Let's make those changes ourselves and shape the Village the way we want it to be shaped.

2) Expand our tax base. In particular, I'd like to see new housing built in the Village and a new hotel. I think we also need to spruce up some of our existing neighborhoods to make them more attractive to new residents. There are things village government can do to improve the chances of these things happening, and I'll work on that.

3) Control annual expenses, and start to get a handle on our long term financial obligations. I know you are concerned about village tax rates, and so am I. I will continue my effort to control expenses and to ensure that the services we want are delivered in a cost effective way. There is a less obvious problem I feel we also need to work on. We are making promises--in the form of retirement benefits--that we can not afford. This is a problem that accumulated over a long time and will require a long time to solve, but it is out there and it's important for our future, and I think we need to start working on it now.

4) Develop closer cooperation with our large institutions--the colleges and hospital. These are our big economic engines.  Their fate and the village's fate are in many ways tied together. I want to find more ways we can help each other make the village a better place to live and a place for them to thrive.

5) Get the west dam hydro plant up and running and making money for us. It has been a frustrating and troubled project, as you know. I won't sugar coat it for you. I'm afraid there are still some big hurdles ahead of us, but I will do my best to get the thing properly assembled, and on line as soon as possible, and go full tilt after the dishonest contractor to recover as much of our money as possible. I remain convinced that, in the end, this hydro plant will be a great asset to our Village.

6) Work with the Town board to improve sharing of services and costs. I think we all need to be flexible, and recognize that we are all working toward the same basic goal of making this a good place to live.

There are many other things we need to work on, of course, but these are my big six. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Let me close by renewing a pledge I made to you when I became a trustee. If I am elected your mayor, I will do my best in my work to be thoughtful, committed, and forward-looking.

Thank you again for your support.