More city leaders voice New Year’s resolutions

In last week’s edition of Alachua County Today, city leaders from Alachua, Newberry and Waldo gave their New Year’s resolutions for their cities. This week, leaders from the remaining four cities outline what they’d like to see in 2010.

High Springs

High Springs Mayor William Coughlin said his top priority for 2010 is stimulating the local economy. He would like to see the city build a relationship with Enterprise Florida to bring light manufacturing and high-tech industry jobs to High Springs.

He is also working to modify the city’s sign ordinance to make it more attractive to incoming businesses.

“I want to ensure that the city is business-friendly, so we are encouraging folks to come here and not discouraging,” Coughlin said.

Hawthorne

After a tough couple of years, Mayor Eleanor Randall is optimistic about the new direction the city is taking.

“I’m happy to say that we are continuing to make the necessary changes that we started in 2009.”

Her goals are to increase transparency, get more people involved with the city and bring the community together. She said this means working with the various city entities, including the schools and the chamber, and developing the youth council and senior center.

“I think 2010 has a lot of hope and promise,” Randall said.

Archer

Like Hawthorne, Archer is also trying to overcome recent setbacks and get back to basics. Archer City Manager John Glanzer, who was hired in October, has had nearly a 100 percent turnover in city office staff and has worked to get the commission to put bad feelings aside and work as a unit moving forward to serve the city.

“We are here as servants to the citizens of or community,” Glanzer said. “That is our only goal.”

Glanzer’s priority projects are creating a sewer system, re-establishing a viable and comprehensive recreation program and improve the overall level of city service.

 

“My goal is to try to provide consistent, competent service to our community,” Glanzer said.

LaCrosse

 

Mayor Diane Dubberly said the future of LaCrosse is as a small town, but she would like to see some growth compatible with the nature of the town.

 

Her top priorities are bringing a library branch to LaCrosse and building a Web site for the city.

She said a Web site would help increase the involvement of citizens in the local government by letting them know what is going on.

 

I’d love to see citizen involvement improve, Dubberly said. Then, we could really look to what direction we want to go in.

 

City leaders are constantly looking for ways to improve their communities. Some cities are building on past success, while others are starting from scratch. Whatever the challenges, most city leaders have the same goals – improve services, increase citizen involvement and build on what makes their city special.