About the City
By
Councilman Kingery

Dave Robatcek of the Douglas Budget recently reminded us:  "The art of collaboration seems to have been forgotten, working together to reach goals, solve vexing problems, moving our country (community) and society forward."  Thank you Dave, I completely agree with you.  What we see on television daily, and increasingly more here where we live, reminds us that many people have failed to learn, or at least fail to use their collaborative skills.
This reminds me that as a City Council member I need to think collaboratively as we deal with and solve City problems.  There are times when we Council members get comments, both positive and negative, about decisions we are making.  If we are not careful, the negative comments can be seen as "against" what we are trying to accomplish.  We should not see those comments as "against" but instead see them as "caution, take a look, be careful" comments.  The City Council tries very hard to make sure we have considered every important aspect of a situation before we make a decision.  Those so called "against" comments are what help us make sure we have considered every important aspect of our situation.
This became very true during the recent annexation of the Seven Trails addition to our community.  Several people came forward with concerns that were troubling them.  Every time except one those concerns were things we had discussed early on in the annexation process.  We sought answers to our questions and weighed that information into the annexation process.  Did we have exact and complete answers to all of the problems?  No, but our process assured us that decisions can and will be made to make solutions available for the problems.
Suppose your family wants to purchase a new vehicle.  The car salesman will likely fill you in on all of the positive things you will obtain with the purchase of the vehicle he (she) has for sale!  But we all know there is a negative "against" side to this situation.  Sales tax, higher insurance, higher license fees, probably monthly payments meaning other family priorities will have to wait.  If you are going to make a wise decision, you need to weigh all aspects of this situation, both the good and the bad!  You have to decide whether this will be a good situation for your family.  Are the positives enough to offset the negatives?
This is the way the City Council operates, we balance the good and the bad.  If we don't get your feedback we may be missing out on some very important information.  Does this mean we do what you want?  Maybe, maybe not, but remember there are over 6,000 other people in this city.  It isn't about "you" and it isn't about "me".  We must do what we believe is best for the City and the people of this City.  If we don't do what you want, does it mean we are ignoring you?  Definitely not, but it may be information we already have dealt with or there are enough benefits that we believe it overshadows this concern.
This I promise you: this City Council will not make a decision that we believe is not going to be good for the City or the people of this City.  We are not looking for an opportunity to be wrong!  We care about Douglas; this is our home too.
So please, keep those concerns coming as we do not want to find out too late that there is information we failed to consider.  And if we get grumpy with you, please accept our apology!  We are human and sometimes we fail to understand that you are trying to help make sure we know what we are doing!
Oh yes, the one thing we had not considered!  Mr. Richard Cross pointed out that this annexation is downwind from the new gas plant on Cold Springs road.  Pollution from that plant might be harmful.  While this is a legitimate concern it is not part of our criteria for an annexation.  If pollution from the gas plant is a problem, it should have been dealt with prior to its construction.  If this is in fact a problem it will affect all of Douglas and will involve our entire community; it is not unique to Seven Trails.