Mayor's Message for May - Neighborhood News

I am writing this on the heels of a good, lengthy and at times, difficult Commission meeting. As you may know, I lead each Commission meeting and manage the execution of the agenda. As Mayor, I need at least two other City Commissioners to vote with me in order to move something forward from a policy-making perspective. I have no veto power. At last night's meeting we agreed to give seniors who qualify an extra $25,000 homestead exemption on first and second reading without objection. We were pleased to help our seniors.

We also discussed property tax reform and Vice Mayor Gold was concerned enough about the future fiscal impact that he considered eliminating the Fireworks display this July 4th and made a motion that fortunately failed for the lack of a second (to the motion). I spoke so vehemently against my colleague's notions because of the impassioned pleas of so many in our community who are concerned about illegal fireworks harming someone this July 4th holiday. As your Mayor, I will not stand for our votes to be unresponsive to the demands placed on us by our bosses, YOU.

I anticipate that our City will be impacted by Property Tax Reform in the near and far future. We will get through this tough time and do whatever it takes to do so. While we will make some difficult budget cuts, we will be having open forums to hear your concerns and address your questions. One of the preliminary proposals is to reduce our Student Resource Officers in the elementary schools so that there is one for every two schools. I can understand the Police Chief's reasoning for the suggestion. However, after hearing so many objections from so many parents and meeting with so many students who appreciate their SRO's I will do whatever I can to find a different expense reduction. For you vocal Westchester Moms, I am with you!

Our meeting was difficult at times because we all have our differences on certain issues. I remain passionate about citizen involvement while others are happy to have to have increased voter turnout by merely moving the election to November. This City Commission is committed to evaluating the City Management's recommendations for our budget but we will not give any recommendation a rubber stamp. Ultimately, it was a good meeting, as everyone was heard, we passed a law that will help some needy citizens and we recognized many worthy students and teachers and administrators from numerous schools in our City for a variety of achievements. Our esteemed Representative, Ari Porth, also added to the value of our meeting by reporting on three bills he successfully worked on and answering many of our questions. I also believe the meeting was good because we shared respectful, albeit passionate, dialog on issues that matter to us.

Your Commission and your City Management remain committed to your well-being, excellent education and an excellent quality of life. I believe our differences on the dais and our expression of those differences are healthy and a great contributor to our overall success. I appreciate your input and welcome you always to share your comments and concerns by emailing me at SBrook@Coralsprings.org or by visiting our website at http://www.coralsprings.org.

PS – Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

Posted: Thursday, May 17, 2007