Thinking About The City’s Quandary

I had a great group of friends when I spent time as a city councilman and later in the New Hampshire State House of Representatives, who would gather for breakfast on Sunday mornings. Most of them were 20 years or more my senior, but they all had a wealth of experience and knowledge about a wide variety of subject matters dealing with business and what it takes to be successful. 

During my almost 76 years here on earth, I’ve tried to recall many of those tidbits of knowledge and guidance they would share with me over breakfast on those Sunday mornings.  

On a recent quick trip up to New Hampshire, I had the opportunity to visit with the son of one of those families. Rob’s father David was the second generation to run the family farm, which his grandfather purchased a century ago. They celebrated that great achievement on July 5th,which saw over 1,000 people join in with him and his family as the fourth generation to be actively involved in managing the affairs of the operation. 

Family farming is a back-breaking and difficult endeavor to say the least, and Rob’s father, who has since passed, was the second generation to run the farm, taking it over from his father. David was probably one of the greatest educators Rob could have asked for and one of those who, with his wife and our joint friend Weldon and his wife, were a part of that group of about a dozen who would gather every Sunday morning.  

Weldon and his three brothers were the third generation, following on from his grandfather and father. That family-run company is still in operation, and his children make up the fourth generation to work in the management of their family company.  

In addition, there was another great friend of ours named Eli Whitney, no relation to the famous inventor of the same name, but nonetheless one of the brightest and most visionary individuals whom I’ve ever had the pleasure of calling a friend. He, too, was extremely successful in his own right, and those three families were the cornerstone folks I heavily relied upon for their input. 

I lay this all out for you to give you some insight into those who have been a great influence in my life. Not one of them has a PhD degree at the end of their name, but they all had a great deal of common sense and an understanding of the world. All three families were extremely successful and from various corners of the business world. One from the agricultural field, another from manufacturing, and the last of this trio was a successful builder and entrepreneur in his own right. 

One of them, and I can’t remember which, would always tell me that the decisions made for the short-term slaps on the back may end up having a negative effect in the long-term. Those irrational choices would eventually send the devil knocking on the door to collect for the reckless choices made for the wrong reasons, causing more disruption and harm as those poor decisions from the past would soon come home to roost eventually on our doorstep. 

It is unfortunate that those councilors who made poor budget decisions in the past are not here today, for the most part, to stand before you. Some of them have sold and moved away, while others have chosen to fade into the shadows and will not stand before you again to seek your votes.  

The time is before us all to make the difficult choices regarding the future. We cannot ignore the issue before us, and hard decisions will have to be made; those sitting at the dais today will be saddled with those tough choices.  

The buck truly does stop at those seven seats, regardless of the decisions made by others from past years. Those choices won’t be easy but will have to involve an intelligent and well-thought-out budget plan moving forward, and I am sure there will be some pain to bear for us all. 

This process will require some extra meetings prior to our September deadline to send our final budget and mill rate to the State of Florida. It is my sincere hope that our present council will take into consideration all suggested opportunities that might be brought forward, either by fellow councilors or members of the public who may offer intelligent remedies regarding the situation before us.