The year of ʻPerfect Visionʼ
2020 is the year of “Perfect Vision”! I am grateful for all the lessons learned, all the major milestones and all the ground gained in 2019! It was a year of learning the many facets of the position of Mayor and working with others to implement changes. We will see many of those efforts greatly beneÅt our city!
While we are suffering through the COVID-19 situation, I am optimistic about the state of our city. Both our Police and Fire Departments are working through our budget restraints and formulating a plan to keep our citizens protected and secure. Each department hopes to add to their force and have worked hard to promote diversity in recruiting. Our chiefs have assisted with informing our citizens through last year’s Town Hall Meetings and have been inAEuential in the aspiration of our youth by showing up for many community activities.
I am proud of all our City Employees and I maintain that they make this city work! They are up early in the morning to ensure things are moving smoothly when the rest are us start our day. With additional funding from our EWB we will be able to do more street work in the next couple of years as long as the weather prevails. Major changes last year and continuing this year will ensure all departments are working effectively and efficiently. We are closer to the needed renovations of water and waste water treatment plants, which will be crucial for our water supply.
The staff here in City Hall is becoming more innovative! Since last year’s report, we have two new employees. New software is enabling our office to assist our citizens in ways we couldn’t previously. Relatively soon, citizens will be able to handle most transactions online. Everyone working in this building understands the importance of assisting our citizens. They all support my “open door’ policy. In the near future time clocks will be installed at every city employee location. By the end of this year we hope to implement another means of improving our workforce.
It is a necessity to encourage our residents to support our local economy. Spending money locally keeps our city running as it should. It enables us to make the necessary repairs to our infrastructure. Boosting our local economy promotes our city as a place to live, as we showcase our unique areas of shopping, dining, recreation and the arts! We want those that visit to want to stay, and those that are here to never want to leave!
I am very optimistic about what 2020 holds for the city of El Dorado. We need a complete count for Census 2020. We continue to inform and empower of residents through our Town Hall Meetings and other opportunities for city involvement. Let’s do all we can to make sure everyone is counted and understand that everyone counts! This is the year of “Perfect Vision”!
(Veronica Smith-Creer was elected mayor of El Dorado in 2018.)