Greenfield residents urged to vote 'no' on Issue 4

To the Citizens of Greenfield:

We, the persons named at the end of this letter, are persons who have long been heavily involved in the improvement of our community. We are personally paying to mail out this letter to you to express our thoughts and concerns regarding Issue 4 that appears on the ballot in the Nov. 5 general election. This issue seeks to change our local government from the present Council and City Manager form of city government back to a Council and Mayor city government.

We strongly believe that a vote of No on Issue 4 is critically necessary in order for Greenfield to continue to make progress and thrive in an increasingly complex world.

In 2008, after a vote by our residents, our community changed from a Council and Mayor system to a Council and City Manager form of government in order to better meet the needs of our community in a changing world. In the past, a part-time Mayor, serving at relatively low pay, with little or no experience in running a municipal government, could perform admirably and still support their household from other sources. Today, a full-time professional with experience and special training is necessary in order to adequately perform what is necessary to fund and run even a relatively small community like Greenfield.

Securing the funding necessary to adequately maintain services and infrastructure is a much bigger and different job than when local tax revenues could pay for our needs. Last year, we had approximately $5.7 million in tax revenues ($.634 million for police, $1.4 million for sewer, $1.9 million for water, and $1.69 million for general fund in primary revenue categories.) Today, our tax revenues are not adequate to cover all of the necessary expenditures. Our sewer department alone faces two badly needed sewer projects that will require an estimated $10 million.  

In the last six years, our City Manager has helped our community obtain approximately $19 million in grants. This amount of outside grant funding is unprecedented in Greenfield’s long history. These grants do not just automatically come to us. Instead, they must be sought out. We need a City Manager who regularly attends state and regional meetings in order to see what grants might become available, prepare the grant applications, and oversee the lawful administration of grants received.

Questions have been raised about recent increases in water/sewer rates. In a nutshell, outside state funding is necessary and the state has requested that our rates be brought up to the area norms before approving the needed grants. By bringing the rates up to the norms, the Council and City Manager were able to obtain a $500,000 grant and a $500,000 loan in order to begin an initial phase of one of the two $5 million sewer projects that we face. The state wants to make sure our community is paying what is considered to be our fair share.

Besides obtaining funding, a modern local government administrator must have the skills and time to deal with state and federal regulatory agencies, human resources issues, and deal with day-to-day issues that arise with our cemetery, police, railroad, and making sure adequate maintenance schedules are established and kept for water, sewer, streets and all the rest of our infrastructure.

With a Council/City Manager system, the Council members are elected and they in turn, search for and hire the City Manager, and then direct and supervise the Manager in the direction they want the community to go, and then approve funding accordingly. The Council can seek and advertise for a City Manager with the skills and experience needed.  

A Mayor, on the other hand, is elected in what may be nothing more than a popularity contest, that can result in a Mayor without necessary skills and experience. In addition, the Mayor and Council may at times have opposite views, resulting in a stalemate that halts progress because Council refuses to fund what the Mayor wants, or the Mayor balks at going in the direction Council wants. Our community needs to keep moving forward.

We ask you to carefully consider what is best for our community and VOTE NO on Issue 4 to preserve our Council/City Manager form of government.

Sincerely,

John Adams, Secretary/Treasurer of Community Improvement Corp.
Ron Coffey, Retired City Manager
Larry Hayes, Local Attorney
Steve Hunter, President of the Greenfield Foundation and part owner of Weller's Plumbing and Heating
Stuart McNeil, Member of Grow Greater Greenfield (G3), Rotary, and Greenfield Foundation
Mike Penn, President of Greenfield Research
Wes Surritt, Owner and President of Wooden It Be Nice
Otis Wagner, Retired Teacher and Football Coach