Mayoral Questions from the Daily Press

Why do you want to be mayor?

Many of the questions posed within this voter guide, defines why I want to be Mayor. In Suffolk we have suffered a total abdication of leadership by our Mayor and Council, which has defined failed public policy. The first step in resolving these many problems starts by recognition of the important issues. I have done this in speaking and writing and have offered solutions to clearly change how our city is managed. I am asking my fellow citizens for their support as their next Mayor, so that I can implement these changes to failed policies of the past, by bring a seasoned and conservative business approach to our public affairs. I have studied these difficult issues for sometime and I am ready to be your next Mayor. With a strong education in Public Administration, an entrepreneurial outlook as a successful businessman, and a fiscally conservative mind-set, I can effect changes that will benefit Suffolk as Mayor.


What should be done with the Kings Highway Bridge?

I have advocated strongly for the repair, then the replacement of the Kings Highway Bridge. I suggested over three years ago that the City must advocate that this bridge be recognized as a higher transportation priority at the MPO/HRPDC and to even allocate some real funds each year to replace it. That has not been done, except for the shuffling of a small amount of reserve funds from one internal City account to another. No one in Richmond or Washington will take us seriously about rebuilding this bridge, unless we do more than just place it on the CIP for some sunny-day money some years out. Also, the bridge must be built at the original site and only at 35 feet in height. The present city council resolution passed last year and for the up-stream and more expensive site, insures that the project will cost almost twice as much and that no bridge will ever be built. We must solve this vital issue now as a real quality of life issue, rather than what the Council has cited sending our dollars on in the past.

Are you concerned with the turnover of high-ranking city employees in recent years?

I am very concerned with not only the high turnover of senior city staff, but also the hiring of marginally competent replacements. We have had three city managers in three years and almost all of the senior staff has now been replaced that is associated with the City Manager’s Office. With the many challenges we have ahead of us, it has become painfully apparent that the senior staff may not be up to the competency we need in these challenging times. This lowering of the levels of experience in the critical higher-ranking jobs in our city administration seems to have set us up for failure and more cost due to errors in judgement.


What’s the greatest need you see in the city, and what would you do to address it?

Budget reform and a more realistic public spending plan is on top of my agenda! Suffolk has had a period of rapid growth in the easy money times from artificial Assessment rises and has supported spending freely for some time, but the party is now clearly over. With a national economy tanking, banks closing or failing, home values dropping, jobs disappearing, and other calamities we need to reduce the cost of local government and the attached taxes on our homes. The City Budget is over $511,000,000 this year and some are proposing that next year could be $543,000,000. If elected Mayor, I would propose a city budget to the City Manager in January, which has at least a $21,000,000 reduction. Mayor Johnson seems to feel that everything is just fine and that we should just blindly continue on the present course she has chartered and I strongly disagree. The problem with her view is that we are running headlong into a harsh reality and that demands setting hard and real priorities for City Spending. We must have a significant reduction in the budget, now! If we don’t take such actions we will unfairly increase the tax burden once again on our citizens. For the last eight years they have suffered extremely high growth in real estate taxes and at unsustainable levels for many. Many feel they are much worse off than just a few years ago…


What is your vision for Suffolk’s future?

Times are tough right now, but with a more responsible level of leadership, Suffolk has a very bright future. In the region, it is Suffolk’s time. We have become the crossroads of regional potential with: a high-tech Modeling and Simulation Center, huge stores of good land, access to the Ports of Virginia, a strong and growing work-force, and even if under some strain a transportation system where many roads go through Suffolk. Just look at the interest in projects Like "Center-Point" in our Holland Road Corridor. While this $325,000,000 project can only proceed when we determine how to improve Holland Road, this project goes to show just how much interest there is in Suffolk. Then there is the "In-Land Empire" project in western Suffolk by the Port, which could bring development worth billions of dollars. With proper and insightful leadership as the next Mayor of Suffolk, I can reduce the costs of local government, while still encouraging these many positive projects to serve our citizens and the region. The vision I hold for Suffolk is brightly light with strong economic development, bringing good jobs to our citizens, and improving real quality of life for all from the North high-tech corridor, to the many Port driven industries through-out the City, and the strong agricultural areas found in the South and Western end of our fine city.

What do you hope to accomplish?

There are many issues I want to accomplish as the next Mayor of Suffolk. The first issue is to reprioritize and reduce city spending and the budget, to lower property taxes. I will provide a full comprehensive City Budget to the City Manager by the end of January, which has reductions in spending of at least $21,000,000. I want to accomplish "corridor studies" so that projects like "Center-Point" and the "In-Land Empire" can be accomplished smarter and in the right locations in Suffolk. I want to open our local government and will demand more inclusion for all in the process, with more information available on what the city is doing, listed on the City Web-Site. I will challenge why we hold so many closed meetings, why most decisions are done behind closed doors, and insure we make all of our decisions in the open. I will suggest and demand a smaller and better-qualified senior staff. I would call for the creation of an "Independent City Auditor" to replace the "Chief of Staff", to insure all City processes are proper and in the public’s interest. Under good leadership, Suffolk has the potential for many accomplishments.


Provide an interesting tidbit about yourself.

I am a retired US Navy Submariner and have been a pilot for over thirty-five years. I served on the Nuclear Weapons Inspection Teams out of the Norfolk Naval Station and also served on the USS Salt Lake City (SSN-716), USS Spadefish (SSN-668), and SUBRON Eight Staff, all in Norfolk Virginia. I have a Masters Degree in Public Administration and Management. I have retired, but still do some work as a Project Management Consultant primarily for commercial projects. I also do legal consulting work on Federal Administrative LAW and have won the only Federal Aviation PART 16 discrimination cases ever, in Virginia and Florida.