ASK THE MAYOR
Democracy alive and doing well in city of El Campo
MAYOR PHILLIP SPENRATH

Wow! The American Democratic System is alive and well in El Campo. Our great community has been blessed with one of the strongest voter turnouts in recent history. While we must continue working to educate and motivate more of our local eligible electorate into voting, we have all witnessed, and hopefully taken part in, an election process that clearly distinguishes the United States from others nations throughout the world.

As our founding fathers provided well over 200 years ago, We The People have been afforded the opportunity to voice our opinions, share our ideals and directly participate in the future planning and development of our great city.

The election booth decisions that we made this past week can only be construed as a mandate that the citizens of El Campo support economic growth and development and desire to promote and ensure the safety and prosperity of our children and grandchildren.

Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton understood the difficulties and time challenges involved with the governmental decision making process and thereby ratified a Republican system of leadership where voters elect local community representatives to serve on their behalf by making quality of life decisions on behalf of the community as a whole.

Once again, We The Citizens of El Campo have been afforded our unabridged Constitutional Right to Vote. For the past 200 plus years, American citizens have gone to the polls to indicate their approval, or disapproval, of decisions and actions taken by their locally elected officials.

Now is the time to reflect on the results of our recent election and evaluate the voters mandate for our city's direction and leadership.

We need to openly extend a hand of support, grace and understanding to all of our neighbors regardless of beliefs, party affiliations or personal agenda.

Two years ago, when I first entered the race for City Council, citizens approach me stating they desired a change in leadership direction because they believed our City was becoming stagnant and falling behind neighboring communities in economic development and overall progress.

Over the past two years, your City Council has served responsibly by following state laws and regulations, conducting extensive research, listening to our constituents, and following that up with unbiased, well-informed decisions. Comparing 2008 to 2006, El Campo has reduced its city tax rate while continuing to maintain a strong general fund balance.

Dear citizens, we must all make an effort to review and evaluate the issues and platforms presented in our recent election. El Campo's continued success and prosperity will certainly be affected by our ability and desire to accept the results and mandates of our local electorate.

We are truly blessed to live among so many incredibly caring and giving neighbors. It is time to get back to protecting and improving our El Campo "way of life."

Continued infrastructure improvements, paving of roads, increasing drainage capacity, solidifying emergency services and continued development of "quality of life" opportunities must continue to be priorities.

As elected representatives, your City Council will continue to listen and communicate with you, our constituents. As Council members, we understand and respect our sworn fiduciary duty to promote and protect the present and future well-being of our citizens.

In the coming months, we need to continue focusing our efforts toward the revitalization of our downtown Central Business District; enhancing our gateways; and offering financial incentives that will entice and support existing and new business entities.

As I said upon first becoming your mayor, my number one objective will always be to provide timely and accurate information concerning any and all issues that come before your City Council. It is imperative that we all continue preparing El Campo for the future while maintaining our smalltown way of life.