September will be here in about a minute.  It's time to start giving serious thought to the upcoming elections.

Here, in Marion, we will be electing a new Mayor for the first time in sixteen years!  That fact alone makes this an impotant election.

The selection of a new Mayor can make a tremendous difference in the direction Marion takes over the course of the next several years.  We need to take a long hard look at the issues that are important to Marion's well being.

What do you think the city's approach to annexation should be?  How about city-county consolidation?  What about the use of TIFs and tax abatements to aid in the development of our community?  How about crime and public safety issues?  How do the Mayoral candidates plan to to approach or communicate with the young people in our community?  They are, after all, Marion's future.

If you don't know the answer to these questions you need to make it your business to find out.  The Mayor is, or at least should be, the face of this community.

I hope our new Mayor is innovative and energetic.  I hope he is not looking to be just a caretaker Mayor.  I hope he doesn't view the job as nothing more than a stepping stone.

I hope that when you vote you don't get stuck on party labels.  The idea of voting for either a Republican or a Democrat just because of party affiliation at this level of government is just plain foolish.  At this level, whether our Mayor is a Republican or a Democrat simply does not matter.

There are also some City Council seats up for grabs.  I ask you to consider the candidates carefully.  There are neighborhood issues that need desperately to be addressed.  The candidates approaches to municipal government:  what it should do, what it can do, and what it cannot do need to be examined.  I encourage you, above all, to support candidates who are looking for solutions to Marion's problems rather than excuses for them.

I promise to do my very best, over the next couple of months, to get you the information you need to make smart choices.