This week brings about my 100th day working as the City Administrator for the City of Green River, and I want to say thank you to all of our residents, city employees, and our governing body who are working hard to contribute to our success in so many ways. I also appreciate the help, patience, and advice that I have received from everyone working within the City of Green River along with those agencies and businesses we deal with on a regular basis.
Prior to taking the position I was familiarizing myself with city government, by being a board member of the Green River Chamber of Commerce and going to our council meetings and workshops, but I soon realized I was only touching the surface of what one would have to do on a daily basis in this position. So, when I was asked to do the city’s weekly article this week I thought about a number of subjects I could share and write about, but then it dawned on me how fast time is flying by in my new role, and a ‘100’ day update would be a good way to share my experiences and our successes.
I had to hit the ground running day one. I came on board when budget meetings were a few weeks into the process and we were forecasting revenues for the next fiscal year. I had to quickly soak in ideas about program budgeting, air subsidy allocations, community enhancement grants, Blue Canopy studies, URA/Mainstreet, State Land and Investment Board grants, and many other items with funding components.
I wished that I could have started at an earlier date because I believed I needed to come in and work with our staff and to get to know them, their plans, their ideas, and get through that awkwardness of the new guy and his intentions. However, the process is the process, and I found that the people we have working within the city, specifically our department heads, supervisors, and the governing body, were more than willing to help in any way possible. For example, I had numerous meetings with Interim City Administrator Chief Steffen to get up to speed. It didn’t matter what the question was or what time the question came to me, he was willing to offer his help. We also put in weekly department head meetings that were only to go for a few weeks to get me up to speed but now have turned into something that will be a mainstay. Collective and frequent communication between departments lets us all know what is going on and that each part of this organization has specific roles that tie together to make us successful.
And to be successful, we also have to have the leadership from our governing body that helps define some of the priorities we need to focus on. These were specifically clear to me as I came on board and they underlie our organization and how we want to be perceived. These goals include being fiscally responsible for sustainability, restoring public trust and confidence within the organization and within the city itself, creating more dialogue and open communication, working on succession planning at all levels, create an environment that fosters economic growth, and being open and transparent. There are goals here that are being worked on, and we have noticed advancements, and there are some goals that are going to take some time as we manage through the resources we are given. But everyone needs to know all of us are committed to continue to implement the steps we need to take to reach all of these goals because “we are all in!”
Recent successes include the approval and adoption of our 2015-2016 budget at our last council meeting. We understood the need for being a little more conservative as we approached this next year but we also were able to address some needs at the employee and departmental level that have been neglected which the governing body wanted to address.
We are also finalizing the last of our most recent sixth penny projects and tying them into additional grants and funding opportunities to enhance those projects. This includes the 2nd South project and the beautification that will go along with it. Other successes include the approval of funding from SLIB with our cease and transfer station at the state level.
We were able to get an extra $295,000 in additional grant monies towards the closure of the landfill and building of the new transfer station. This project is in design phase now and will be completed prior to the end of 2017. Another positive change includes the approval of a new position in our community development department that will allow us to begin to focus on some needed planning and zoning ordinance changes, building code changes, and other proactive items that can lead to easier understanding about working with the city. This will also support working with future economic development.
In Green River we are fortunate and thankful for what we have here. We have an unprecedented level of community outreach and public support for each other.
There is no lack of ideas on how to better improve our community and our goal is to position the city to allow us to achieve these ideas and goals and make our community even better.
I believe there has been a lot achieved these past 100 days, and there is more to share than can possibly be put into this article, but things are taking shape and it has so much to do with the hard work and dedication of our staff and the passion they have for working for the city. You and they have truly made each of my efforts during my first 100 days as good as they could be.
In the next 100 days I will continue to work closely with the staff, I will continue to get out and see businesses in our community, and we will encourage volunteerism to join us in our efforts.
We will work together and know that we will face challenges ahead, but we have within our grasp all we need to succeed.
All of us appreciate your support and ask that you join us as we work together to make Green River the best it can be.
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