STRONG MAYOR, TOUGH TIMES

Town of Ruston Special Council meeting Monday November 24th, 2008;

Mayor Bruce Hopkins gavelled the meeting to order with flag salute. Four council members in attendance and Town Attorney and Town Clerk. Three (3) members of public attended! This was the easy part. The next hour and a half was so complicated to be almost bewildering, the complexity of the Town's financial situation close to hopeless; but not impossible. I admire the indefatigable confidence and positive outlook of Councilman Jim Hedrick and am trying to adopt it and leave out the negative, he is our cornerstone to the future. The input from Karen, Town Clerk, was precise providing a vast knowledge of the Town budget and of town procedures. Although a few council persons are always looking for the negative. Without Karen this would be a bigger mess by far. The Town Attorney kept them from themselves with constant reminders they could not talk about tax increases without a scheduled, advertised public meeting. Great job David Britton. Opening the can of worms followed a short discussion of an ad valorem tax increase (a certain rate on invoiced value, (lawyer talk)).

STRONG MAYOR, absolutely, while learning the ropes Bruce Hopkins has shown himself to be a take charge Mayor and most impressive, able to bring the conflicting council members with conflicting solutions to task and keep them moving ahead, straight ahead, with little tolerance for side tracking and "the sky is falling" syndrome. And this was his first official meeting, great start.

I cannot over emphasize the complexity and challenges facing the town, they are immense. After sitting through 90 minutes my brain was starting to spin but I stuck it out to understand the tolerance and devotion to the Town by the Council and Mayor. All this (Council person) for $30 a month and the Mayor $500 per month. Meeting after meeting taking up many evenings of personal time. This new Mayor is extremely dedicated and should receive a large salary increase as he is becoming the de facto Town Administrator.

There was a lot of talk about a TA Town Manager/Administrator for $108,000 per year versus $500 a month for the Mayor. The discussion involved leaving it in the budget or taking it out. The sticking point is Point Ruston oversight. There seems to be a lack of trust. But the reality is Point Ruston has more of an interest in a successful development than the Town or at least equal. Both are in for the limit. The distrusting council persons should get on board and take advantage of the services available to the Town through Pont Ruston and not try to duplicate them. Example: Town has a Tunnel Fund with a balance of over $100,000 from a grant obtained by former Mayor Bob Pudlo to straighten the tunnel. The EPA is forcing the Town to move the storm sewer outlet and cleanse the water before it enters the bay. WHY NOT TRADE OFF: WIN, WIN?

It seems that every meeting a new FUND is discovered, previously unknown. The Town needs to document their funds and their intended uses in a form (digital or paper) available to all, especially new Town employees. Operating in the dark or each new council person going into a discovery process is time wasting.

They talk about a no tax policy relying on some illusory GRANTS they are going to apply for like they are given out like candy on Halloween. Good luck, the competition is intense (Public Works Trust Fund) and the path is difficult. The Mayor understands there is a great opportunity with the Obama administration for INFRASTRUCTURE projects and JOB creation. Rather than individual grants, time consuming and costly, join them in a single INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT emphasizing JOBS not money. JOB CREATION is the new buzzword to move successfully through the bureaucracy of forms and jargon. Major projects the Town needs to address ASAP are:

.street lights replaced and underground wiring
.sanitary sewer system replaced
.storm sewers upgraded replaced to EPA standards
.storm sewer outlets to Commencement Bay, eliminate contaminants
.streets rebuilt surface and sub surface
.electrical system, poles and wires replaced, hopefully underground

It's JOBS! J-O-B-S, print it on the top of every page in the grant request in capital over sized letters. The timing needs to be expeditious.

There is a minority preaching Tacoma or bankruptcy. Tacoma Power will not take Ruston's electrical system. Too old, too expensive for ROI, return on investment. The city of Tacoma does not want or will not annex the Town of Ruston and its myriad problems and dysfunctional community. All they have to do is wait for it to default to Pierce County and then annex Point Ruston through the Boundary Review Commission. Makes sense, go for the gold leaving behind the IOUs. Tacoma has a 100 percent cooperation with Point Ruston and wants it to succeed big time. Try it Ruston, Tacoma likes it.

Nothing will work with the present dysfunctional Town Council and it's diametrically opposite goals. They need to learn to work together and forget the BC division, before cabal. Forget Tacoma as the big brother coming to save us and work together and save ourselves. Unless this happens the Town will disappear in a whirlpool of discontent. MAYOR HOPKINS, in my opinion, ended the meeting with a stroke of genius, calling on each Council person to submit a plan for a final budget by Saturday the 29th. No plan no input. Thus the zero budgeters will have to delineate tax cuts or tax increases and the borrow from the emergency funds outline their plans. No more going in circles.

Again the enormousness or the tasks at hand are mind blowing. To understand what I cannot possibly pass on you need to attend a budgetary meeting, more are scheduled, and take an interest in your Town. Three people in attendance the Town's future hanging in the balance. I gave up after ten pages of notes and trying here to set the tone and hopefully bring agreement. These are my thoughts, tapes/CD of the meeting available at Town Hall for five dollars.

WORK TOGETHER! WORK WITH POINT RUSTON! THEY ARE ON OUR SIDE! BREATHE DEEPLY AND FORGE AHEAD IN DAUNTING TIMES!