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This month, Gem Lake has a new mayor for the first time in 22 year. Bob Uzpen says he has a definite idea of where he wants to see the city go in the years ahead. His own goals have been heavily influenced by input he says he got from people he visited with during his campaign stops in the city.
Bob’s three primary objectives have to do with money management, communications and future development.
“I want to control variable expenses as much as possible. We will only spend money when we absolutely have to and we intend to review the variable expense budget to see if there are areas we can forego for another time,“ says Bob.
Bob would like to see people become more aware of the city budget and what it entails. (See budget story on page 1.)
One way to accomplish this in the year ahead might be to foster more participation in the budgeting process by citizens. Although the process can be tedious, it is also very important. More public relations on upcoming budget meetings in the newsletter and on the web-site might be one solution.
The best possible two-way communication between citizens and the council is the second of Bob’s main goals. I want to see it continue to improve.
Ideally, everyone in the city would be aware of the issues coming up at council meetings.” To do this he would like to see meeting minutes and agendas available electronically to more people in our community.
Bob also envisions even more news about city events in each newsletter, whenever possible.
A third goal is to make sure the city is zoned appropriately to be ready for future development.
Many of the goals set by the council at the city council workshop on December 1 are reflective of the city’s desire to be completely ready to handle development when the market begins to recover. (See city goals story on page 4)
Bob says he is looking forward to working as part of the Gem Lake City Council, as well as working with city residents and other interested parties.
The mayor and city council members Jim Lindner and Tom Rasmussen will be officially sworn in for their terms of office on January 20 at the City Council meeting at Heritage Hall. You are invited to attend.