Spokane Asks Mike
Dear Spokane,
Please consider my response to questions asked by concerned citizens and area organizations:
1. With the new increases in water rates, garbage and sewage rates and a new $20.00 increase in license tabs, what will you do, as our strong Mayor, to curb the ever increasing costs of basic public services?
Answer: I intend to bring the cost of basic city services back in line with open market prices through more competitive public & private bidding & contracting practices; improve the reliability and usability of city accounting information upon which public decisions and resulting cost impacts are based; create and expand Spokane City employee incentives for increasing value for Spokane tax and rate dollars.
2. As strong mayor, which actions will you take to make sure the city will remain accountable for its financial decisions?
Answer: I will demand understandable accounting standards with relevant performance metrics; adopt free and near free digital information platforms to improve the speed, clarity, usability and distribution of municipal information. I will make myself regularly available for on-camera discussions with citizens and rate payers about any appearances of malfeasance or self-dealing by government institutions or their proxies.
3. To many, it seems that our government is more concerned with its own interests at the expense of the publics’ interests. As strong mayor, how will you represent the interests of the public?
Answer: By restoring the role of government to its proper place in the citizens’ lives and making politically self-serving actions far less easy.
Some powers afforded local governments are actually reserved for individual citizens under our Constitutional Republic.
Many government agencies and employees need to be reminded of the primary objective of our government and many of our elected representatives need to remember what they promised their fellow citizens the day they assumed governmental power. The conditions I ascribe are fundamental to economic power and free people.
4. What will be your strategy as strong mayor to reduce behind closed-door governing and include more citizen input?
Answer: I don’t expect to require many closed-door meetings and will be highly inclined to video record any closed-door meeting that staff or city legal counsel might demand.
5. You’re not accepting campaign contributions per se but you are raising money for charities. How are you going to win this campaign without this financial benefit?
