2/25/13 - Howellâs Mayor says a recent retreat by city council and other city officials may have begun on a small note of disharmony, but actually was quite productive in aligning up their goals and expectations for the coming year. Mayor Phil Campbell says while the session last weekend began with a discussion by current and past council members critical of the recent actions by Councilman Doug Heins, that issue was quickly dealt with and the business of the retreat moved forward. Campbell says they focused on the main issue facing the city; balancing the financial funding of city services while positioning the city as a destination both for tourism and business development. On the funding side, they have had to face a 25% loss in taxable values dating back to 2008, which means they are increasingly facing a decision of whether to deal with that loss by raising revenue through increased taxes or making cuts in the budget or a combination of both. But Campbell thinks that the city is actually well placed to deal with those issues and the retreat helped to get everyone on the same page moving forward. Campbell says while that is certainly a challenge, they received good news from the Downtown Development Authority director that the unused locations in the downtown area are filling up fast. In the final analysis, Campbell says the retreat succeeded in highlighting both the cityâs challenges and achievements and getting the council in the right frame of mind to move forward as a unified body. (JK)
↧