Monroe Common Council
There are four candidates for five seats on the Monroe Common Council. Incumbents Brooke Bauman, Chris Beer, Ron Marsh and Jeff Newcomer are on the ballot.
Position sought: City of Monroe alderperson
City/town of residence: Monroe
Family: Judith C. Marsh, spouse; Laurie, daughter; Wayne, son
Education: For over 50 years I have been a participate in and/or an instructor in numerous, managerial, marketing, educational, and other professional courses. Over that same span of time managed, trained, provided leadership, taught, recruited, hired, promoted, marketed to, and served individual from all walks of life, both in the public and private sector.
Occupation: Retired
Previous elected positions held: Mayor - City of Monroe April 2006-April 2010; Alderperson - City of Monroe April 2016-April 2017
What are the top issues facing this district/municipality and how would you work to resolve it?
Economic Growth - a three-prong issue: Retail, Industrial, and Residential.
Here are just three indications we are going down the wrong road; assessment trends, building permits on decline and declining population. If we continue down this path we will be paying increase fees for services, such as water and sewer, property taxes will increase, general services reduced or eliminated and our population will continue to decline.
We need a Comprehensive Marketing Plan, which would include an action plan, timelines, objectives, and goals.
Our propriety for each one of us must be economic growth.
Financial Decisions - Over the prior six years there has be several unfavorable financial decisions. Increases of 17 percent in water and 23 percent in sewer rates, parking surveys, parking ramp, and incomplete budgets.
These, another, has cost you, tens of thousands of dollars.
As elected officials, we have a fiduciary responsibility to spend and invest your tax dollars wisely.
Over the course of this last year I have evaluated each financial decision being made by the Common Council. That practice will be continued. Every item to be financed will be evaluated not only for what it does for us now, but how it will affect us in the future.
What are other key issues facing the district/municipality, and how would you work to resolve them?
Capital project/equipment - For six years' capital items were either totally left out of the City's budgets or were under funded. That created a backlog.
In 2016 we addressed this issue. We set aside in the 2017 and future budgets $350,000 to be used for capital items. Plus, created a bonding issue to resolve some of the backlog.
In the future, Alderpersons cannot allow the funding for capital items to be used on other projects. Also, we need to evaluate each capital item to make sure it is needed, not just I want.
Six Standing Committees - Each committee will consist of four Alderpersons.
No other Alderperson can attend, nor participate in those committee meetings.
This can, will, and has cause other Alderpersons to make decisions on issues which they may not have all the information to do so. Especially, if it was a closed committee meeting. These committees could also create a negative quorum, which is a violation of the open meeting laws.
All issues affecting our City should be brought directly to the Common Council. That way each Alderperson can question, debate, make comments and extract information, which they can then use to make their decision.
City/town of residence: Monroe
Family: Judith C. Marsh, spouse; Laurie, daughter; Wayne, son
Education: For over 50 years I have been a participate in and/or an instructor in numerous, managerial, marketing, educational, and other professional courses. Over that same span of time managed, trained, provided leadership, taught, recruited, hired, promoted, marketed to, and served individual from all walks of life, both in the public and private sector.
Occupation: Retired
Previous elected positions held: Mayor - City of Monroe April 2006-April 2010; Alderperson - City of Monroe April 2016-April 2017
What are the top issues facing this district/municipality and how would you work to resolve it?
Economic Growth - a three-prong issue: Retail, Industrial, and Residential.
Here are just three indications we are going down the wrong road; assessment trends, building permits on decline and declining population. If we continue down this path we will be paying increase fees for services, such as water and sewer, property taxes will increase, general services reduced or eliminated and our population will continue to decline.
We need a Comprehensive Marketing Plan, which would include an action plan, timelines, objectives, and goals.
Our propriety for each one of us must be economic growth.
Financial Decisions - Over the prior six years there has be several unfavorable financial decisions. Increases of 17 percent in water and 23 percent in sewer rates, parking surveys, parking ramp, and incomplete budgets.
These, another, has cost you, tens of thousands of dollars.
As elected officials, we have a fiduciary responsibility to spend and invest your tax dollars wisely.
Over the course of this last year I have evaluated each financial decision being made by the Common Council. That practice will be continued. Every item to be financed will be evaluated not only for what it does for us now, but how it will affect us in the future.
What are other key issues facing the district/municipality, and how would you work to resolve them?
Capital project/equipment - For six years' capital items were either totally left out of the City's budgets or were under funded. That created a backlog.
In 2016 we addressed this issue. We set aside in the 2017 and future budgets $350,000 to be used for capital items. Plus, created a bonding issue to resolve some of the backlog.
In the future, Alderpersons cannot allow the funding for capital items to be used on other projects. Also, we need to evaluate each capital item to make sure it is needed, not just I want.
Six Standing Committees - Each committee will consist of four Alderpersons.
No other Alderperson can attend, nor participate in those committee meetings.
This can, will, and has cause other Alderpersons to make decisions on issues which they may not have all the information to do so. Especially, if it was a closed committee meeting. These committees could also create a negative quorum, which is a violation of the open meeting laws.
All issues affecting our City should be brought directly to the Common Council. That way each Alderperson can question, debate, make comments and extract information, which they can then use to make their decision.