Mayor Small's Address to City Council - 10/18/2010
October 18, 2010
Mayor's Address to the City Council
A few years ago Jacky and I returned to New Castle to build our dream house and watch the corn grow and the sun rise and set. We settled in amongst friends and classmates and planned to assume a life of quiet reflection and do things that we had not been able to do in our more active professional careers.
Retirement did not last long, though, as I was soon invited to be the Executive Director of Healthy Communities. Shortly after that I was offered a part-time position with the Economic Development Corporation. Then, the Governor of Indiana appointed me to fill the vacated position of City Judge. These latter two offices I held until I was persuaded by citizens to run for Mayor in the 2007 mayoral campaign.
I won an historic election by landslide where 21% of the votes cast for me were by Democrats who were disenchanted with their own party's candidate. I was quick to realize that it was the broad electorate, and not just Republicans, who elected me. The voters had not been content to maintain the status quo and instead sought new blood, with new ideas, one who could lead New Castle out of its doldrums.
To this day, I only know the party affiliation of several of the twenty-some appointed officials who serve under me. I suspect that most, if not all, of the rest are Democrats. I really don't know for sure, nor do I care. I chose my staff based on their qualifications and experience and not on their political allegiance.
From the beginning, I had three goals that I set out to achieve: bring life back to the downtown; clean up the city so that it would be one of the finest and prettiest cities in Indiana; and provide an inviting atmosphere for significant business and industrial expansion that would reduce much of the unemployment and poverty that New Castle was experiencing.
Supporting Advantage Wind Turbines in its quest for a headquarters and manufacturing facility in New Castle and continuing the research support for JaTech Systems begun by the former Nipp administration, which should soon culminate in its establishment of a manufacturing center in New Castle, will be major accomplishments of my administration when the two events occur, as well as making other significant contributions to the economic and community development of New Castle.
These successes could only have happened as a result of my decision two years ago to temporarily divert funding from the EDC, thus allowing me to form a New Castle Economic Development Directorate under the leadership of Jeana Davis and to apply funds towards rebuilding the downtown and attracting new industry. Our accomplishments were not by accident - we had both been employed previously with the EDC and knew how economic, business, and community development should be professionally performed.
This success also was not without personal pain, given the subsequent lobbying and public attacks hurled against me by people whom I had thought were my friends, and actions and orchestrated letters to the editor that hurt me to the quick. I persevered in spite of cheap shots, and I am thoroughly convinced that my actions were the proper ones, and that the industrial and economic future of New Castle is now secure because of those actions.
The Economic Development Alliance that County Commissioner Kim Cronk and I wanted almost two years ago and which was accepted by the EDC only seven months ago after months of reluctant negotiation, has the potential to further demonstrate to the outside world that we are really ready for new industry! The EDC now has a talented and experienced Lead Economic Development Officer (LEDO) in the form of Robert Grewe. Jeana and I look forward to supporting him in the future to really put New Castle and Henry County on the map as the finest place in all of Indiana in which to live and work.
One thing that I did not anticipate was the perfect storm of a national recession, loss of property tax income forced on us by the State Legislature, and citizens not being able to pay their local taxes, thus requiring me to lead New Castle out of the most serious threat to its survival that it had ever faced. That, then, became my fourth goal, and was successfully accomplished by absorbing most of the ensuing shortfall within our local government itself without reducing services, thereby greatly lessening the impact to the citizenry.
During this entire period, I felt, and am indebted to, the prayers of many citizens who were praying that the city would work through its problems so that New Castle would indeed once again become that shining city on the hill. What more could we ask for? Thank God that we are on that path!
Having made significant inroads into accomplishing these four goals, I feel that I should now spend the remaining fourteen months of my term tying up the loose ends. I am blessed with employees, staff, City Council, and a Henry Township Trustee and Township Board whose goals are to make New Castle and Henry Township a better place in which to live and who have put politics aside for the common good. I look forward to continuing our good working relationship with them.
I am therefore announcing that I do not intend to run for re-election to the office of Mayor of the City of New Castle next year. I will have accomplished what I had set out to do and will have given back my all to the city that raised me, to the city that I love. I will have put it back on track towards once again becoming the finest city in eastern Indiana.
It will then be time for a new mayor, preferably a younger mayor with new blood, one with successful business and leadership experience, one with energy and good health, and one who will continue to do what is best for New Castle, not what is best for oneself, nor for getting votes to be re-elected.
Just as I made history when I was elected, I will also make history by leaving the Office of Mayor voluntarily, something that has not been accomplished in New Castle for many decades. Nor did I have any relatives on the City payroll!
I will depart knowing that I have left a city that is forever better, beautiful, and green.
Mayor Jim Small
