My name is Douglas W. Jewell And I am running for the position of Mayor of The City of Grantville. A little about me: 26+ years as a resident of Grantville Was married - currently single 3 children and 7 grandchildren Spent the majority of my life in public service: United States Army – Korea City of Alexandria, Va Fire Department United States Capitol Police Washington, D.C. Metro Police Sgt. Coweta County Prison System Grantville City Council - Grantville City Government Coweta and Troup County School Systems I think most of us agree that the City of Grantville has problems….. some people may say we have a lot of problems….. but we also must remember that the City has a number of assets. As Mayor I will address the City’s problems and promote its assets. At this time, rather than try to address everything, I would like to point out what I believe to be some of the most pressing concerns facing us today. These problems are: PLATFORM 1. Grantville has a City Charter outlining what can and cannot be done by its leaders and citizens. This Charter must be enforced, accurately and fairly as it is written, for the benefit of the City and all of its citizens. 2. We need to get our financial house in order. We need responsible, necessary spending. The citizen’s must feel safe in knowing that money collected is actually being spent to benefit the City and ultimately it’s citizens. Grantville must file in compliance and remain in compliance with Georgia Law as far as the required Annual Budget, Annual Audit and all other State Financial Reporting regulations. 3. We are all aware that we have utility problems. Most of the problems include poor maintenance of badly working or non-working equipment, yet our utility bills are unusually high. This tells me that the money collected for utilities and utility repairs may not be finding its way back into the services needed. Perhaps these funds are being misdirected. Here, I would like to address two recent suggestions shared on social media. First: The suggestion of a forensic audit. While I have nothing against using outside talent to clear up financial issues, I would want to consult with our current auditor to determine if a forensic audit is indicated at this time. Forensic audits can be very costly and we truly do not want to waste taxpayer funds. Second: The suggestion that the new Mayor must be new blood in Grantville is a little hard to swallow. When applying for a job, when did we get to the point where experience became a bad thing? The idea that we would elect someone with no more than a couple of years in Grantville and no experience in government or in the running of Grantville, would be the better choice makes no sense. Currently we do not have a City Manager. How can anyone without experience in running a municipality such as Grantville expect to walk in, figure out what has and has not been done in the past 4 years and get these errors corrected in a reasonable amount of time. This action would slow progress when we need to start now to move Grantville forward. We should not eliminate the very people who have experience, knowledge and ability to act effectively right now. That is no way to get Grantville on the right track. Experience, being ready, willing and able and honesty should be the front-running reasons for choosing a new Mayor in 2014. I believe that you are either part of the problem or you are part of the solution. I find it hard to believe that non-residents of Grantville currently receive more consideration and respect from the current Mayor then do our residents. CITIZENS’ needs must come first and CITIZENS must be treated courteously and respectfully at our meetings. So far, those good individuals who are taking their precious time to attend meetings are not being well received. This will not happen with me as your Mayor. A Mayor must work with all of the citizens to solve problems and promote our assets to make Grantville a City we can all be proud of and together WE can make this happen. I think that our biggest assets are the citizens of Grantville and I believe my best qualification to be your Mayor is my honesty, fairness and my ability to listen to those of you who care about Grantville. Occasionally we may not agree on the decisions that are made, but I will always do my best to make myself available to speak to you, in meetings, by phone, or in person to discuss with you the reasoning for my decisions. I will listen and try to work with your ideas and concerns. I promise that any decision I make will be based on what I believe will best benefit Grantville and its citizens, not one individual, political party nor my personal desire. If you want a Mayor who is ready, willing and able to hit the ground running to solve these and other problems, who has already considered solutions to some of our existing concerns, then I AM THAT PERSON Douglas W. Jewell, Sr. 249 Grandma Branch Rd. Grantville, Ga. 30220 770-583-2000
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 23:17:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015