At the Agenda Setting meeting tonight, the Fayetteville City Council will receive a memo from staff that provides a comprehensive update on actions taken to achieve the City Council’s top six priorities as outlined by the Council during a planning session in June of this year.  In order of priority the top six lists includes: affordable housing, water and sewer impact fees, road impact fees, water and sewer rate adjustments, economic development and senior day care facility.  Staff has been diligently working to achieve these priorities while also managing the two largest infrastructure projects in the history of the City and performing their day-to-day responsibilities and duties.  Over the last several years we’ve been able to assemble to superior team here at City Hall, and I think their excellence is reflected in their dedicated service and widespread achievements.  You can view the memo (Policy Priority Update) to see exactly what staff has achieved to date in repsonse to Council’s top policy priorities for 2007.

Fayetteville City Council members Brenda Thiel (Ward 1) and Bobby Ferrell (Ward 3) join me, State Representative Marilyn Edwards, and State Senator Sue Madison as we celebrate the opening of Fire Station #5 with Fire Chief Tony Johnson, Assistant Fire Chief Chris Lynch, and several Fayetteville Firefighters at a ribbon cutting ceremony on August 22, 2007.  Read more about Fire Station #5.

Last year during the 2006 US Conference of Mayors in Las Vegas, NV, I introduced a resolution requesting an increased Federal role in the assessment, development, and financing of critical national infrastructure (Resolution PDF).  After contemplating our nation’s financial priorities and juxtaposing that with a comprehensive report card for America’s infrastructure developed by the American Society of Civil Engineers (www.asce.org), I was determined to bring this issue to the table for Mayors from all across the country to consider.  Not only was the average grade a “D,” or poor, for all the nation’s infrastructure including aviation, bridges, dams, drinking water, energy, hazardous waste, navigable waterways, public parks and recreation, rail, roads, schools, security, solid waste, transit and wastewater (click here for Arkansas summary report), but the estimates for maintaining that “D” average (not improving, just maintaining) exceed existing revenue streams at all levels of government.  Moreover, the Federal government continues to hand down mandates related to maintaining and expanding infrastructure but fail to provide the funding necessary to successfully respond to those mandates.  This is creating a squeeze on local government budgets, and we’ve been feeling that squeeze for some time in Fayetteville.

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