Good Evening

Thank you for the faith and trust you place in me by appointing me your chairman. I pledge to uphold this office with the respect and honor that the position and the people of this community deserve.

Tonight, with the seating of a new Commission we begin to write a new chapter in the Leon County book. We have a wonderful and enviable opportunity to make progress that will shape our community and better citizens' lives for many years to come. Thanks to the good stewardship of earlier commissions the state of Leon County and its government is good. It now time for us to get to work.

In the next few minutes, I'll thank some of those responsible for our good condition, some who have helped me, and describe what I see as priorities for the year ahead. I think it important to let you and the community know where I stand and what I think is important. During the course of this year, I'll ensure that each Commissioner gets that same opportunity. I look forward to our January workshop when we will formally get down to building OUR agenda. Our success depends on what we are able to do together.

First, some thanks. There is a long and honorable tradition of previous chairmen of the Board of Leon County Commissioners dating back 153 years to 1845. I will look to them for inspiration in conducting the duties and responsibilities of this office. I am fortunate to serve alongside two of those - Rudy Maloy and Bruce Host.

I will appreciate and solicit your advice and guidance in pursuing my chairmanship. I know I can count on you. There has been much discussion about the 20 years of experience we lost with commissioners Joanos and Yordon, but let me remind you that there is 20 years of experience with our commission so I think it's fair to say we are in very good hands.

To Commissioner Jane Sauls, my warmest congratulations on your election to the position of Vice Chair. Your strong leadership and thoughtful positions provide much needed stability and balancing of our debates.

Commissioner Proctor, I say thanks for the passionate and committed vision you bring to this board on behalf of your constituents in District 1.

To our newest colleagues, Commissioner Rackleff and Commissioner Winchester, welcome to this Board. I know I speak for each commissioner when I say how much we welcome your ideas, experience and talents. With your help over the next four years, I know we will be able to accomplish great things for the citizens of our community.

To our staff of the Board of County Commissioners, especially Parwez Alam, Herb Thiele, our Group Directors, Gary Johnson, Laurie Ringquist, Brenda Trimble, Mike Willet and all of the employees you supervise, I thank you in advance for helping this board and me, as chairman, be successful. County staff are the ones on the front lines working day in and day out for the citizens of this community.

Although we elected officials are often praised for bringing important new services to the community, such as the new parks program, it is only because our dedicated staff have been laboring to accomplish great things!

To my family, especially my wife Georjean and sons Travis and Chad - and our dear Jessica - I love you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me each and every step of the way thus far. I could not have made it here without you.

To my mother, Edwina Thaell, who is 85 years young this month, I am eternally grateful for the life you gave me and the strong, principled upbringing you and Dad provided as the foundation of my life. Four years ago, when I was first inducted as Commissioner, my mother and father, Cliff Thaell, stood with me at this podium as I took that first oath of office.

We are saddened deeply that my father is not with us anymore. But I can assure everyone that my parents strong core values of patriotism and love of country live on through me, expressed through the conduct of this office.

And now about priorities...

I believe we can continue to improve the quality of life we and our neighbors enjoy and cherish - this means a robust economy, sustainable growth, and a healthy environment. We can and should do this in a manner that makes real improvements on the southside. Cooperation with the City and State - on a higher level than we've known before - is a necessary requirement for our success.

Here are four specific goals I believe we will be able to accomplish.

1.   Increased citizen involvement in the early stages of planning decisions.  

2.  A unified plan and structure for water resource management with the City and cooperation with the State, which I hope will include an examination of a joint stormwater utility.

3.  Southside improvements resulting in real social and economic opportunities for residents.

4.  Better transportation, law enforcement, water quality, and flood control through extension of the penny sales tax.

First -   Increased citizen involvement in the early stages of planning decisions - One thing we can do, and must do, is reduce the amount of litigation we are involved in with citizens opposed to the County growth and development policies. We currently face 17 active citizen initiated lawsuits. It is critically important that we find a better way of resolving our disputes. Litigation is costly to our taxpayers and an enormous burden on those citizens who feel they have no other recourse but through the courts. Even when the county wins one of the suits, who among us really feels the public's interest has been best served?

We have seen through experience that the planning process works best when we involve the public at the beginning of the decision making process, not the end.

We can mediate many issues that confront and divide neighborhoods, land owners, and the county before frustration makes our citizens turn to the courts. We should, for example, use the services of our nationally recognized Neighborhood Justice Center and its team of Florida Supreme Court certified mediators much more frequently. Of the existing lawsuits, it would be my hope that we can put our planning and legal staff together with the initiators of many of these suits to reach as fair a settlement as possible. Commissioners, it is certainly worth the effort.

Second -  A unified plan and structure for water resource management between the County and the City and cooperation with the State - County, city, and state government have plans - good plans - that address stormwater and water resource management.

And yet flooding continues and stormwater continues to pollute our pristine lakes and water bodies. It's clear that we won't succeed in preventing flooding and protecting our water without a much higher level planning coordination.

It is past time for the city and county to consolidate these functions and budgets. Establishment of a Joint Water Resource Management effort and the creation of a stormwater utility would address water quality, water monitoring, treatment, greenway and flood-prone land acquisition. This is the most sensible and fiscally prudent strategy to get a handle on complex, interrelated environmental problems that have vexed our community for decades.

Third -   Southside improvements resulting in social and economic benefits and opportunities for residents- We are all aware of the historic neglect and financial disinvestment that has left many areas of the southside economically depressed, crime ridden, and environmentally damaged.

It is only fair to say that there are good things happening - like the World Class School movement, environmental improvements to Lake Munson, and road enhancements. Though well intentioned, most of our discussions of a Southern Strategy have failed to generate results. We need to insure that all our plans contribute to measurably improved conditions for our southside neighbors.

With our involvement in the planning of Southwood, I want to insure that the housing provided there is affordable to all our citizens. We must open the door for new opportunities for entrepreneurial development to help people start small businesses that can serve the many new residents who will come to live in Southwood. I hope Leon County can get behind efforts to provide start up capital as loans to small entrepreneurs through the creation of a microlending program.

And Finally -  Better transportation, law enforcement, and water quality through extension of the penny sales tax - After serving four years in this office the last 18 months on the campaign trail - and listening - I believe there are three Quality of Life issues the public wants to see improved:

1.  A better transportation system with improved arterial roadways - with roads constructed and maintained so that our lakes and natural resources are protected. We will aggressively continue to build roads in this community. But we will no longer ignore the needs of our lakes and other surface waters. We must be willing to pay the extra cost of protecting our lakes to the standard of Outstanding Florida Water bodies.

2.  A joint law enforcement communications center with state of the art equipment. A joint dispatch center is a wise public investment that will insure greater citizen and officer safety and will provide more efficient and cost effective law enforcement for our community.

3.  Pure, safe drinking water and lakes and watersheds that are unpolluted by storm water runoff, and homes and businesses safe from flood waters.

Doing these things will require financial resources. The best way to generate those dollars is by extending the existing one cent sales tax beyond its 2004 expiration date. The sales tax is supported by residents and visitors alike, and is the only practical alternative to additional property tax. With your blessing I am recommending that along with the Mayor we ask the broad-based citizens committee that has been working on this issue to provide us with ballot language by January 15th.

That deadline will allow both commissions the opportunity to review the language in preparation for a special referendum to be held on the first Tuesday in May.

I understand this represents an aggressive time line, but I believe deeply that leadership requires action and without the extension we run the risk of bringing our enormous investment in economic development to a halt.

We must help the community understand that without this extension there is no more revenue for roads, and much needed projects like Crawfordville Highway, Mahan Drive out to I-10 and Capital Circle Northwest will not be completed. COMMISSIONERS...THE TIME FOR LEADERSHIP ON THIS ISSUE IS NOW.

Success will require political will, leadership, and cooperation with the City of Tallahassee. The sales tax extension will generate millions of dollars needed by your local government. We must have an open discussion about our needs, listen to the voice of the community, and arrive at an agreement so that citizens can confidently and proudly vote yes. I suggest we call the campaign "A Penny for Our Future."

I intend to dedicate my efforts as Chairman - and leadership - to pulling this community together to reach a consensus position these four concerns critical to our future.

1.   More citizen involvement in government decision making on the front-end.

2.   A unified plan and structure for better water resource management.

3.   Southside improvements that make a real difference in our citizens lives.

4.   A Spring 99' referendum to extend the one cent sales tax for transportation improvements, law enforcement enhancements and storm water management.

These are my priorities - the things I intend to work for in the year ahead. I look forward to the hearing each commissioner's priorities as well. Our success - my success - isn't about one person's priorities or interests.

Our success depends on the consensus we can build together. The people of Leon County are entitled to no less. Let's do their bidding - and get the job done.

We stand tonight on the threshold of the new millennium. We have but 409 days remaining in this century, before we enter the new exciting era known as the third millennium. What we choose to do with each of these precious four-hundred and nine days could well define what Tallahassee and Leon County will be for generations to come.

Thank you for your vote of confidence in my leadership I intend to do my best to lead this commission, in partnership with our citizens, into the next millennium and into an era of trust, cooperation and success.