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Mayor envisions good times to come in Dunedin

By BOB HACKWORTH
Published July 9, 2006

It is good to be with you all here today, and I thank the chamber for this opportunity to make this State of the City address.

Last night, I was sworn in as the new mayor, and I want to tell you how proud I am to be your mayor and how truly fortunate we are to live and work in the city of Dunedin.

As I took my oath of office, I was filled with great determination and optimism about the future of our great community.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said that "the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand but in what direction we are moving." Where we are is that life in Dunedin is quite good. Which direction are we moving?

I want to first acknowledge the importance I will give to working together as a team with my fellow commissioners. It will be my goal to respect and learn from each of them, and I will constantly remind our citizens that they are all intelligent, hard-working and dedicated people spending long hours in meetings, poring over endless documents and doing their utmost from their individual points of view to serve this community.

I want to publicly thank each of them. They are individuals representing different points of view, and it would be unrealistic to expect them to always agree with me or with each other, but I know that they will always work hard to respect the views of all, to engage our residents and to carefully use their expertise to make good policy decisions.

And let me debunk the myth that there will be personal agendas and voting alliances on this commission. It is, in my opinion, an insult to all of us to suggest that any one of us is less than an independent thinker who will deliberate with no motive other than what is in the public's best interest.

There will be an extra effort made by me as the chair of our commission meetings to respect and learn from each commissioner and to aspire to make win-win policy decisions when it is possible. I hope I can count on each member of our new commission to support me in that effort.

Another thing I will focus on as mayor will be to improve the image of government. Right or wrong, a lot of people are skeptical about the motives and intentions of elected officials and are cynics about government. You can't hold good government in your hands, but good governance matters because the people of Dunedin deserve no less than a great city government.

A city is great when government works efficiently, when departments in the city are transformed, modernized and professionalized, when leadership is trusted and the functions of government are transparent.

One thing I intend to make sure we stop just talking about and actually get done is the transformation, professionalization and modernization of the Building and Permitting Department.

Another example of improved efficiency will be to try and figure out why important projects like the recreation co-location project at Dunedin Middle School and the replacement of our skate park at the MLK Center take so long to complete and how to avoid those delays in the future.

It particularly bothers me when projects for kids take forever, because as those projects crawl through the bureaucratic process, those kids grow up and have missed the opportunity all together. I'll do what I can to improve both the process and the pace of government.

Make no mistake, the state of this city is strong, prosperous and hopeful. We are justifiably proud of what we have accomplished, but it would be unrealistic to assume there will be no obstacles as we seek to maintain the quality of life we enjoy today for future generations.

We have recently been engaged in some healthy debate about redevelopment in our city. You can expect that debate to continue, but I think the City Commission is working toward a consensus for carefully planned, smart redevelopment that will protect and preserve our community character.

Part of that smart planning will be to maintain the diversity of our past in a community where all citizens feel welcome and where policemen, firemen, teachers and city employees can continue to be our neighbors. So we must make quality affordable housing a priority and an important part of the planning policies we adopt. There are some interesting plans and proposals out there, and I want Dunedin to be at the forefront of both addressing and finding workable solutions to this critical need.

Another part of smart planning will be for the city to preserve open space and water views from encroaching development. The most effective and fairest way to do that is for the city to purchase what green space and waterfront property are available. Those purchases will cost money, but I'm convinced that it is worth the price and that the decision to do so will never be regretted by future generations.

We also must prioritize money in the budget to maintain and beautify the priceless waterfront pocket parks, linear Edgewater Drive Park and the causeway we already own and which deserve our greatest care.

Another obstacle we face will be the hiring of a new city manager. I consider that final determination to be probably one of the most important policy decisions this City Commission will make during my term as mayor. The decision before the five members of the City Commission is solely about hiring the best and most capable chief executive officer to run the operations of the city of Dunedin for the benefit of all 37,000 residents of the city.

It is not about hiring the best city manager for Mayor Bob Hackworth, or the best city manager for individual commissioners, or even the best city manager for the chamber of commerce.

It is my sincere hope and my earnest intent that the five us will objectively and dispassionately deliberate, without bias and without outside pressures, on the options and arrive at a consensus choice, and that after that agreement is arrived at, all of the people of Dunedin, including all of you here today in this room, will respect it as made in the best interests of all 37,000 residents of Dunedin.

In conclusion, let me just state that I understand that all of us have a stake in the future of Dunedin. We as your elected officials must step up and be true leaders of this community. We have an obligation to make this city work, to restore confidence and trust in our government, to put aside our differences and be willing to compromise when necessary to continue the progress we have made.

Yes, there are obstacles to overcome, but I see nothing but enormous opportunity for our community in the next three years if we work together. And I really mean that.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Hours after he was sworn in as the new mayor of Dunedin in April, Bob Hackworth delivered a speech at the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce quarterly luncheon about the state of the city and his plans as mayor. Because few local media outlets covered Hackworth's address, the Times asked him to supply a copy of his prepared remarks to share with our readers.

We invite readers to respond to the new mayor's comments and goals through a letter to the editor. Letters may be written by going to www.sptimes.com/letters, by faxing them to (727) 445-4119 or mailing them to Letters to the Editor, 710 Court St., Clearwater, FL 33756.

[Last modified July 9, 2006, 06:09:17]