Setting the Tone

As I announced my candidacy for mayor of Hood River this week I've been asked the "why?" question more than a few times. This blog should help answer it. (And no, this isn't my stepping stone to the vice-presidency.) If you really are interested in Hood River politics you can also check out my blog from my city council run two years ago.

Most people only have a vague idea of what our mayor does, so that's a good place to start. Our City Charter says the mayor is the seventh member of the city council, with a few special roles:

• the mayor chairs council meetings
• the mayor can add items to the agenda (other council member can do this too, but require a vote)
• the mayor officially signs ordinances and proclamations (but only with agreement of council, and without veto power)

A common misconception is that the mayor breaks ties. Our charter requires 4 votes for any motion to pass no matter how many are present, instead of the normal "majority of those present" rule. This means that the only tie the mayor breaks is a 3-3 tie, since the mayor's vote can make the 4th. A 2-2 tie can't be broken.

The mayor, like the rest of council, is an unpaid volunteer. There are of course the ceremonial ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings, but I hope I've made the point that the money and power are not a big reason to be mayor under our charter.

There is just one thing that I can do as mayor that I can't do as a council member, but it's a big one to me. The mayor sets the tone for public involvement. While Oregon law requires most proceedings of government to be open to the public, there is a big difference between being allowed to attend a meeting and being invited to participate in charting the course of the city. I want the public to play a more active role in running the city. I'll just talk about one example now: we've all been working very hard for several years to restore our city's fiscal health. In the next two years, we will have to make fundamental decisions about what city services to fund, and how to fund them. I'll bore you with plenty of details later, but for now I want to talk about how we'll make those decisions.

In broad strokes the problem is that city revenues (taxes and fees) grow with inflation and new development at a slower rate than our major expense, which is payroll. This means that to balance our budget we can increase taxes or fees, add new taxes or fees, decrease services to cut expenses, or some combination of all three. Do you have an opinion on this? Maybe not in the abstract, but as soon as we start talking about specific new fees or specific service cuts, everyone wants to be part of the discussion-- and they should.

Here are the steps I see:

1. educate. We can't just talk about elements of this in isolation. The council and the public need to understand how taxes and fees are tied to services, and what trade-offs can be considered. Example: Don't talk about whether a gas tax is a "good idea", but whether a gas tax should be considered to replace to $150,000 we're losing in federal funding for road repairs.
   
2. discuss. No one has a monopoly on good ideas. We need to hear ideas from all quarters. My simple rule for running a discussion is to allow people to talk until things start getting repetitive, then it's time to move on.
   
3. decide. We can choose our course as a community. Everyone won't agree, but we need to move forward with a plan that best reflects the needs of our city.