"We must be a purpose-driven organization, and that purpose is cost-effective service, period."

Achievements

Council Leadership
We broadened the Council leadership pool by assigning new Committee Chairs. We scheduled meetings differently to generally enhance access for citizens, alderpersons, and media.

Walmart Incentive
We renegotiated the Walmart incentive to reduce long-term risks, reducing twenty years of $200,000 payments ($4 million face value) to $2.3 million, including borrowing costs.

Efficiency Projects
We've converted our lighting systems in city hall, and traffic control to more efficient technology, saving nearly $2K per month.

Communicating with Citizens
I've attempted to communicate with citizens through the newspaper to keep them better informed than ever. We are presently engaged in a $400K cost reduction effort in order to be ready for potentially sustained levy limits.

Investment in Updated Systems
We've upped investments in systems and equipment by 49% ($271K to [$228K plus $175K CIP] helping to boost our efficiency. We've taken our first major step to go online for our customers, with a recreation program registration package.

Employee Health Insurance
We are nearly converted to a high-deductible health insurance plan, which reduces costs to taxpayers about $100,000 per year.

Downtown Redevelopment
We are in the early stages of investigating a downtown redevelopment project and website enhancements. I am proud of what we've been able to do in a couple of short years.

Broke the Cycle of Tax Growth
In the Olson years, city property taxes grew 6.4% per year. In the past two years we've averaged 1.5%. If we just continued the 6.4% we would have taxed an additional $1 million in property taxes the past two years.