City Council At Large H. DAN ADAMSCity Council At Large H. DAN ADAMS H. Dan aDams, mD mBa CanDIDate for evansvIlle CIty CounCIlman, at-large P.O. BOx 4792 EVANSVILLE, IN 47724 (H) 812.425.4220 (C) 812.459.4221 DrHDA501@AOL.COM WWW.HDANADAMS.COM “Where I stand...” a s an elected official, I believe that it is time to get Back to Basics in city government. When I was a elected four years ago, I promised that I would lead with Leadership, Vision and Accountability. I believe my record reflects that I have done what I promised. Much has happened in the past four years and we are now confronted with new situations. I would like to explain my positions on what I feel are some of the most important issues that we face for the future of the City of Evansville. Transparency in local government: 1. As voters and citizens of Evansville, you have a right to know how your money is being spent. You should be aware that it is being spent responsibly and in the best interest of our community. Many talk about transparency; few are willing to be specific. I would like to see the following: (a) An annual, four-page review summary of all the City’s revenues, expenses and project targets of concern for the coming year. See hdanadams.com for an example; (b) The City’s annual budget must be presented in a modern format so that City Council Members and the Public understand it better. The revenues, expenses and work projections for each department should be in one section so one would not have to chase through the document to find the information. The existing format is more than fifty years old. We need to fully understand where the money is going and where it is coming from. No extra adjustments can be put forth at the last minute just prior to the final vote; (c) All City Department heads will make quarterly reports to the City Council, explaining what they have spent so far and where they are in meeting their annual budget goals; (d) All departments must change to current and updated accounting procedures; (e) No budget will be approved without signed contracts in place for the Police and the Fire departments; (f) Each City Councilperson should be assigned a portion of the budget to drill down, justify and confirm the exact needs of each department. Each should report to the full Council their findings and recommendations for changes. 2. Every City Council member should explain his or her vote. If they vote a “yes” or “no” on any complex issue, they should reveal the reason(s) behind their vote. 3. All City Council members should disclose potential conflicts of interests before any vote, such as part ownership in businesses that may have bearing on the issue. 1 City Council At Large H. DAN ADAMSCity Council At Large H. DAN ADAMS H. Dan aDams, mD mBa CanDIDate for evansvIlle CIty CounCIlman, at-large P.O. BOx 4792 EVANSVILLE, IN 47724 (H) 812.425.4220 (C) 812.459.4221 DrHDA501@AOL.COM WWW.HDANADAMS.COM 4. Full contact information for every department, including department head name and office phone numbers, should be easily available to find on the city website in the format of a city organization chart. 5. All City Council members’ full contact information should also be available and easy to find on the City website. 6. The City of Evansville needs to initiate a trouble-shooting 311-call system in order to allow constituent problems to be more easily solved. 7. All City boards, commissions, and committees should be listed in the City website with all their members’ contact information. Public Safety: All contract negotiations with Fire and Police departments should be conducted with dignity and respect and stop the tradition of “delay games.” These negotiations should begin early in January, not March, and be completed before any City budget is approved in October. An observing representative from the City Council should be present at these negotiations. Mediation would occur after an agreed upon date, if no resolutions were achieved. Limits for resolution should be set for the mediator. We need to gradually get the Firefighter pay to the same level with the police officers. We also need to find a cost-effective way to re-wire fire stations calls so they go only to the impacted fire station(s). At present, the alarm signals are being sent to all stations all night long, creating serious unnecessary sleep deprivation. Before any fire station is closed, we need to carefully and cautiously consider the impact to the surrounding community, including data of the changes in response time. We need to develop an effective method to use speed humps at the request of specific neighborhoods. Speed humps are being used all over Indiana and are the cheapest, most effective method of safe traffic control. Indiana is second in the nation for meth lab busts, indicating the local penetration of this all-too-common evil. If we can just get the state legislature to eliminate the word not from line “h” in the existing state law, then each city will be able to make its own local laws that are tougher (more stringent?) than the state one. Thus, power will be given to allow each municipality to require that a doctor’s prescription be needed to obtain the metamphetamine precursor, Pseudoephedrine. This simple change can drastically reduce our problem, as it has in Oregon, Oklahoma and Florida. Smoke Free Evansville: As a retired cardiac surgeon and health care advocate, I fully support a smoke free-in-public policy for our community. I support this clean air concept not only from a health perspective, but also in an effort to promote economic development and tourism in Evansville. 2 City Council At Large H. DAN ADAMSCity Council At Large H. DAN ADAMS H. Dan aDams, mD mBa CanDIDate for evansvIlle CIty CounCIlman, at-large P.O. BOx 4792 EVANSVILLE, IN 47724 (H) 812.425.4220 (C) 812.459.4221 DrHDA501@AOL.COM WWW.HDANADAMS.COM Parks: Our parks are vital to the Evansville community. They offer us a place to gather with our friends and family, get exercise, and play not only as children, but also as adults on sports teams. We must make sure that our parks are safe and routinely maintained. We have to put people back in our parks, as volunteers and neighbors. By allowing more volunteers to take ownership of their local parks, they will stay on top of park problems, before they get out of control. Someone at the Parks Department should serve as a liaison to these groups. Evansville is one of the most obese cities in the nation. By putting people back in our parks and offering sources of healthy activity, we can start to change that image. In Conclusion... We have invested a huge amount of money in the downtown Ford Center. We need to step back and let that project mature, before we fund any more large projects. We need to get Back to Basics and put simple priorities back into our community’s planning. Thus, our Firefighters, Police, and Parks should receive care first. Everything we do in City Government must be transparent and in the best interest of our community. As your City Council representative, I will work to make that goal occur. Let’s get back to basics and let me “ continue to be your Independent voice on the City Council. ” hdanadams.com ACCOUNTABILITY • LEADERSHIP • VISION Authorized and Approved by the Committee to elect H.Dan Adams MD City Council at Large, Judy Kuhlman Treasurer 3