As I write this column we’re still enjoying beautiful fall weather – but I’m reminded I’m past the halfway point in my term as mayor. As you know if you’ve been reading my monthly columns and following local news, my first six months were challenging in many ways.
The theme of my first mayoral column was City Council’s need to rebuild trust with residents, some of whom had said they didn’t feel heard or represented. I wrote of our new council’s desire to establish more open and honest, two-way communication and inclusive collaboration with the citizens of Durango (“New Council and fresh restart for city,” April 19).
As I review the past six months, I’m proud of all we’ve accomplished:
We’ve prioritized transparency in city government and provided many opportunities for your input. We’ve worked to create a welcoming and inviting environment in council chambers, instituted monthly financial reports/presentations and made efforts to meaningfully connect with community residents, leaders and organizations.
We’ve established new goals that are timely and relevant. We will continue to work towards implementing specific actions with measurable results to achieve these goals, providing direction for the city from the top down.
We’ve started our budget process for the 2020 budget. In response to citizens’ concerns about how money is spent, we’re doing things differently this year.
Council spent two days pouring over the draft budget prepared by our recently departed city manager. We’re exploring the details behind the numbers. We’re looking carefully at transfers taking place between city funds, to understand where the money is going and for what purpose. We’re examining, for example, transfers from sales tax revenue to the general fund for expenditures on maintenance and operations.
We’re looking closely at capital improvement projects recommended in the draft budget. We’re checking all the implications of proposed changes to city employee compensation (salaries/benefits) packages (learn more at council’s Nov. 5 meeting).
We’ve created a five member Strategic and Long-term Finance Advisory Board to analyze financial trends, risks, circumstances and opportunities that influence and impact Durango’s economy. On Nov. 6, council will interview qualified candidates with backgrounds in finance, accounting, data acquisition, forecasting, research and economic development.
This council determined early on that one of the most significant changes we could make to the status quo would be to require greater accountability from the city manager, city attorney and municipal judge, who are employed for the purpose of carrying out council’s goals.
We followed through on that commitment, spending considerable time and effort developing new evaluation systems. New evaluation processes for the city attorney and municipal judge have now been formally adopted.
We’re still refining the new process for the city manager, as the manager’s role and responsibilities are complex, and also because we’re still discussing how to best include a mechanism for public input.
It’s been a whirlwind-busy six months! So what about council’s plans during the second half of my term as mayor?
The most important task will be the hiring of a new city manager. Ron LeBlanc’s departure has been covered extensively in local media and also in my column (“Here’s how we’ll choose our next city manager,” Aug. 26).
Council has decided to employ a search firm with executive-level government personnel recruitment experience to help us with this undertaking. We hope to have an excellent search firm on board by Nov. 15.
While our city will benefit from the broader reach and resources a seasoned search firm provides, council will be active participants in the process. We’ve already made progress on constructing a profile, identifying desired character traits, skill sets, experience, ethics and leadership style. We’re also working on ways to involve residents in this significant decision.
We’re very fortunate to have committed, experienced and dedicated staff in place. Amber Blake is serving as Durango’s interim city manager, overseeing day to day city operations. Assistant City Manager Kevin Hall will continue in his key role, overseeing community development. Their staffs and the heads of our various city departments have the experience and knowledge necessary to make what needs to happen in Durango every day actually happen.
As we look ahead, we’re excited about the positive changes that are coming to Durango city government and we thank you for your input and involvement along the way.
Melissa Youssef is mayor of Durango, a position rotating among members of City Council. Reach her at Melissa.Youssef@DurangoGov.org.
