Pierzchala Statement On Why He's Running For City Council

City Council candidate >Mark Pierzchala gave the following remarks to Citizens Forum at the Mayor and Council meeting last night. (These are from prepared text that he shared with us.)

In 2007, I ran for Mayor and came in second of three candidates. In January this year I declared my candidacy for council. This early announcement was intended to clarify my intentions, but while the office is different, two main reasons for running remain much the same.

Budget

In 2008, this body passed its first budget and increased City spending by 9.5% to $102M and increased City staff by 17.9 positions. To be fair, I acknowledge here, and have acknowledged on the campaign trail, that this body’s second budget decreased spending by a half percent. But this is small consolation given its first year’s deed and the voters ought to hold you to account. The manner in which Mayor and Council approach the budget process also concerns me. This body just does not bring a great deal of budget expertise to this most important expression of the City’s values.

Though Rockville has seen prodigious increases in revenues for many years, by FY 2012 we could see serious revenue problems. The federal, state, and county budgets are all in crisis because these governments did not take their impending and potential problems seriously enough, soon enough.

As a council member, I will work for a long overdue and very thorough review of the budget, and a revamping of the budget process. Hopefully this would be with full concurrence of Mayor and Council, but if not, when it comes my turn to ask the questions, I just won’t shut up until I get answers. Mayor and Council should undertake a series of substantive work sessions, one department at a time, and one program at a time. This year, I could only shake my head as Department Chiefs, some representing over $20M in spending, appeared before this body for only a few minutes each.

There is much work that Mayor and Council can do now to prepare for rough budget years. This is the best way to ensure that Rockville can continue to do many good things even in lean times.

Governance

A second reason I’m running is the way that this body conducts its business. We still see explosive and corrosive relationships between members of this body. The extended performance at the last meeting has been mentioned to me many times the past few weeks as I have knocked on doors. This is but the latest of several incidents and this behavior gets in the way of business.

In my opinion City Staff have assumed a greater role in formulating policy and setting the agenda over the past 2 years. This year there have been fewer meetings and more agenda items in each meeting. Some of these meetings run very late. For example, tonight’s agenda has 14 substantive items with 40 documents to download from the City’s website, representing several hundred pages of text, pictures, charts, maps, tables, and graphs. One document has 238 pages, and one picture took me 20⁵ minutes to download on broadband access. Three items are on complex transportation issues, and you just can’t give this full consideration in one night! The 2- and 3-week gap between meetings also means it is harder for Mayor and Council to put off consideration of an item. I’ll work to reverse this practice should be voters put me on the council.

Note: Rockville Central does not edorse candidates. But we are glad to publish major statements and significant events of all candidates for City office, always trying our best to be fair to all. We don’t publish everything, but we do publish most things! If you are a Rockville city candidate, please share as much information with us as possible so we can make sure your voice is heard.

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