In response to:
http://scottkennethnoble.blogspot.com/2012/04/mike-meyers-is-blowhard-establishment.html
Mr. Noble is really rattled. Apparently he is more upset then I thought about people disagreeing with his ideas. Now he's resorted to following me and taking pictures. Kind of creepy.
His latest investigative journalism has been taking pictures of my empty parking space at City Hall. I remember the day he took a picture like this because I was watching him from 6th floor in City Hall. Someone came to my office and asked why Scott Noble was sitting in the parking lot. I had a meeting on 6th floor in a few minutes, so I went down and watched until the meeting started. He sat in the parking lot for 15 minutes or so, then got out and took pictures of my parking spot and pictures of the sign that says "Reserved for Mayor". I figured he'd be blogging about me not being at City Hall, but he never did...until now. He should have checked the bike rack that day, because I was ridding bike, as I often do during the warmer months. This picture obviously was more recent as there is snow on the ground, so he's right. I wasn't there.
Even if I wasn't there, I'm not sure what his point is.
Marshfield has a long history of having a government that can allow an average resident rise to the level of Mayor and still have a family and a full time job. Some of our most successful Mayors were business owners in town. We've discussed having a full time Mayor in the recent past. Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids and Wausau all have Full time Mayors. We don't, and we don't need one. I can not understand why it would be advantageous to pay an elected Mayor $65,000-$75,000 per year and still have to have an administrator (which many/most communities do) when we accomplish the same thing with a part time Mayor that is paid $22,500 and a full time City Administrator. Flat tax rates, decreasing debt, decreasing annual budget, decreasing borrowing. Seems to me that we are doing something right. Yet, Mr. Noble likes to refer to me as a tax and spend liberal. He usually throws in something about me being Anti-Walker in the mix too. I've addressed that in previous posts and won't go any further then to say that I m not Anti-Walker, but do disagree with many of his policies and methods.
Let's discuss this Mayor vs. Administrator a little further.
Do you think that anyone who lives in a community should be able to be elected Mayor? I do. Anyone should be able to do it, if they are willing and the voters agree to give them that honor. Do you think everyone who has ever been Mayor, wanted to be Mayor or will be Mayor is qualified to navigate through state statutes, create a roughly $40M annual budget, create a $30M five year capital projects plan, negotiate with unions, negotiate contracts, negotiate development agreements with new businesses or develop policies for how the government can be most efficient? I sure don't. They Mayor plays a major role in these, but the Administrator has the expereince and expertise to make sure all the T's are crossed and I's dotted.
That's why we hire a professional Administrator. Someone to take care of the things and lookout for the long term viability of our community. Their main job is to make sure that, no matter who happens to be in elected office, the community remains solvent and prosperous for the long term. Having an Administrator allows any one of us to be Mayor and do all of the things I mentioned above, all the while knowing we have a professional handling the financial and legal matters.
Even if the Mayor was a full time position, you wouldn't see my car parked at City Hall all day. The last place the Mayor needs to be, most of the time, is City Hall. The Mayor needs to be out meeting with people, cutting ribbons, welcoming groups, hosting potential businesses, talking with residents about concerns, visiting other city buildings, etc... I can guarantee you that if my car was there 40 hours per week Mr. Noble would be upset that I never get out and visited businesses or did my duties as Mayor.
It's true that I sometimes can't make my schedule work. When that happens, we have a council president who can do a ribbon cutting or preside over a meeting. In 4 years I have missed exactly 3 Council Meetings. One I was on vacation and away. The two others, which were more recent, were because I was in Washington DC with Marshfield Utilities and the other was so that I could attend my 3rd grade daughters Winter Concert at Madison Elementary. She was in Kindergarten when I was first elected and because concerts are always on the second Tuesday of December, I had never made it to see her, but was able to watch on video. 3rd grade is the last year she does a Winter concert, then 4-6grades do the spring concert. I promised that I would be at her last concert...and I was.
The job of the Mayor is not to be an administrator. In fact, we have a great City Administrator. The job of the Mayor is to represent the residents of the City of Marshfield. This is done in many ways, but sitting behind a desk in City Hall is not one of them.
If you would like to visit me at City Hall, my office hours are:
Tuesday 8:00am-12:00pm
Thursday 12:00pm - 4:00pm
I am available by appointment at anytime that is most convenient to you. You can contact me at mayor@ci.marshfield.wi.us or at 715-384-2919
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