Ankeny is the one of the fastest growing cities in Iowa. Our town of 42,000 will quickly become much larger, seemingly overnight. The citizens of Ankeny have repeatedly said that a core principle is maintaining its own identity and small town feel. How do we maintain these core values? The answer: Balanced growth. We must have a strong vision for what the city will look like in 10 years, 20 years, and beyond. The decisions made by council today will have a long term impact on our future. We need to elect people who can lead us there.
Ankeny will become a destination city for companies, residents and visitors. We will do this through reasonable and balanced taxes, quality schools and strong resident amenities.
In a fast growing community, coordinated growth is required for a successful community. We have to diligently coordinate city and school efforts to maximize the use of taxpayer dollars. As your councilman, I am committed to working closely with school administrators and board members to make sure this happens.
We must review our current business environment to better understand why Wells Fargo, Aviva, Microsoft and other significant employers are choosing other central Iowa communities for relocation. By encouraging these companies to locate to Ankeny, we can stabilize residential property taxes, increase revenue for our local merchants and create more jobs for the citizens of Ankeny. (win-win-win)
I believe in LEAN management principles where we will operate as efficiently as possible, saving tax dollars. We must evaluate other community processes to ensure we are utilzing best practices wherever possible.
As a governing body, we must create opportunities to engage all of our citizens in meaningful ways. We represent 42,000 citizens of Ankeny and must communicate with them on their terms. This could include social media such as Facebook, Twitter, online video streaming of council meetings, online town hall meetings, etc. We must be more proactive in engaging and representing ALL citizens.
We must live within our means in our operating budgets AND make strategic investments in the long term future of Ankeny. On an operating basis, we must utilize zero-based budgeting to avoid systemic "creep" where we do things simply because we always have done so. Smart businesses don't operate that way and neither should smart government. Long-term, we must make investments that meet the long term goals of the city. This is what should drive our capital expenditure budget.