The Complete "Platform for a 21st Century Hickory"

Below is the complete "Platform for a 21st Century Hickory" as created by Dr. Joseph Inglefield, Joe Brannock, and myself. We encourage others to come forward with their ideas on how to move the community forward. If candidates want to express themselves here, then we will provide a fair platform. Dr. Inglefield and Joe were accused in an advertisement in the Hickory Daily Record a couple of weeks ago of not standing for anything and doing all of this for personal political gain. When you see this detailed platform, you see that nothing could be further from the truth. These are the ideas that can move this community forward.

1) Term Limits - We need to break the cycle of having Mayors and City Council members that serve on the bench for a generation. Thank You for your service, but such a system lends itself to stagnation. We need inspiring leaders to inspire citizens. It is time for fresh new ideas. We need to encourage people to serve on the Council and then move on to seek other offices or other ways to participate in the political system and to turn over the reins to others to create more depth to the community's leadership and varied interests.

2) Independent Boards and Commissions - to lend a non-partisan perspective to the intended purpose/mission of the group. We need policies related to Nepotism and adherence to guidelines of term limits so that members of boards and commissions are not actual proxies of City Council members. We should not see business partners of Council members serving under Council members on Boards, Commissions, and Task Forces where there can be even a perception of a conflict of interest.

3) National Studies and Surveys - that rank us seriously low.  Expedite processes to study how they came to their conclusions and what we need to do to correct the circumstances; including contacting those who created and implemented the study to get their thoughts on what it would take to address the negative issues.  We need to look at improving every year, not regressing or responding to these scientific surveys.

4) An Agenda on Health and Wellness...  The Gallup-Healthway study is a prime example of a valid scientific study that casts a negative light on Hickory. How do we address what this study finds? Dr. Jody Inglefield admits that he doesn't have all of the answers, buts says that is why we need local health professionals to weigh in, but what does stand out is the negative issues this community faces involving health.

5) We need to do what we can to help small business, start up businesses, and local Entrepreneurs move forward. This encourages entrepreneurship, which puts people to work. We will find a way to create and facilitate a microlending-entrepreneurial plan in this community. We think this is a vital mission and purpose that the city's Business Development Commission should embrace.

6) Public Information should be user-friendly, open, and accessible in accordance with North Carolina General Statute 132. We understand that when legal issues and private negotiations related to Economic Development arise that there will be a need to keep certain information secret, but as those issues are resolved that information should be immediately accessible. To the greatest extent possible, information should be available electronically online. When information is from the pre-electronic era, it should be made accessible for a minimal cost (10-cents per page) and within 5 business days of the request being made. The key is that there should not be games played with Public Information.

7) Better Dialogue with the Public - we need all Hickory governmental agencies and their staff to be open, truthful, honest, helpful and transparent. Willing to discuss and carry on open dialogues with the citizens.

8) Non-Profit Agencies applying for funding from or through the city, utilizing City Resources, whether grants or loans, must be willing to open their books and be subject to an audit (if necessary). Agencies, after a defined period (after start-up), would not be able to receive funding in consecutive years from the city.

9) We need new and better defined rules about what constitutes Conflicts of Interest and the ability to construct a Citizen Review Board to look into such matters, since there is a Circular Conflict of Interest in the relationship between the City Manager, Staff, and the Council. And the sanctions issue needs to be clearly defined also. The head of the review board would be the acting city Ombudsman and these people will rotate on and off of this board annually.

10) Empowering Neighborhood Associations to create Community Leaders - We will help to make them, Neighborhood Associations, independent by helping them achieve 501-(c)3 status so that they can have local personal agendas that are tailor made for the characteristics of their micro-community or neighborhoods. We don't want to operate neighborhoods through top-down authority. We want to sow seeds of participation in the neighborhoods from the grass roots, up and into the city's boards and commissions, and helping to create a future City Council that works in the best interests of all its citizens and takes into account every nook and cranny of Hickory.

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Joe Brannock Initiative "Empowering Neighborhood Associations to create Leadership"

10) Empowering Neighborhood Associations to create Community Leaders - We will help to make them, Neighborhood Associations, independent by helping them achieve 501-(c)3 status so that they can have local personal agendas that are tailor made for the characteristics of their micro-community or neighborhoods. We don't want to operate neighborhoods through top-down authority. We want to sow seeds of participation in the neighborhoods from the grass roots, up and into the city's boards and commissions, and helping to create a future City Council that works in the best interests of all its citizens and takes into account every nook and cranny of Hickory.

Last year during the referendum, Joe Brannock and I had to make our way around this community as he debated the merits of Ward specific voting. What we discovered was that the areas with the strongest neighborhood associations were the areas in which it was necessary to organize in order to achieve objectives in that specific area of Hickory. Areas whose needs were many times neglected. The associations that take the process most seriously are the Lakeland Park Association, Highland Park Association, West Hickory Association, Green Park Association, and the Concerned Citizens of Ridgeview.

The problem is that these associations currently have to go through Hickory Inc. in order to achieve their desired objectives and if the neighborhood's objectives don't fall in line with the Power Structure (Mayor, Council, City Hall, and the Establishment), then those objectives are road blocked. We would like to break down the walls.

Joe Brannock is the one who envisions a way to move forward and he explains it all below:

Hickory needs new leadership!

Young people need to get involved. New and fresh ideas need to be explored as we try to build a Hickory that can compete in the 21st century.

Too many barriers exist to nearly anyone interested in serving in an elected office. We need a place where new leadership can be molded and tested. I believe this should start at the neighborhood level.

Hickory is fortunate to already have a network of neighborhood associations scattered across the city. Some are more organized than others. Some are more active than others. And while these neighborhood associations have served our city well over the past, most have seen a decrease in involvement with their members.

While these associations do work hard to advocate for the needs of the neighborhood, the reality of achieving any of their goals is still directly reliant upon the City providing the funding. In this way, the City, to a degree, 'controls' what these associations can and can't do. The good news is this can be fixed. But how? By creating Neighborhood Non-profits.

I believe the City should partner with these associations and assist them in setting up their own 501(c)3 non-profits. This would allow the neighborhoods to expand their goals, reinvigorate their membership, and create a place that would allow citizens to become involved in a very meaningful way.

By elevating these associations to non-profit status, you expand what projects can be considered by expanding how those projects can be funded. Whereas now projects are greatly limited to what the city will fund, non-profits would have many more funding avenues available to them. With their new status, associations would be eligible to apply for state or federal grants - in their own name - as well as various state and national foundations that offer funding. But perhaps the most unique funding opportunity is right within the neighborhood itself. Local businesses located in or adjacent to these neighborhoods would have new way of giving back to the communities they serve. These businesses could now make tax-deductible investments in the local communities and help to directly meet the needs of their neighbors.

With this new influence would also come a revived interest to get involved. Attendance at neighborhood association meetings would increase, because the opportunity to be a part of something truly meaningful would exist, and a breeding ground for tomorrow's leaders would be created.

While these new Neighborhood Non-profits help serve as leadership incubators, we are still only half-way to meeting our goals of new leadership for Hickory. By coupling these revived Neighborhood Associations with a firm commitment to term limits, we bring down nearly every barrier to entry with regard to public service/elected office.

Too often qualified candidates aren't elected due to a system that overwhelmingly favors incumbents. And all too often defeated candidates simply go away. Neighborhood non-profits would help build good candidates into great candidates. Term limits would serve to entice candidates to stay involved (perhaps through a neighborhood association), knowing that eventually the opportunity would exist where their Council seat would be an open seat - leveling the playing field for everyone.

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - New Rules on Conflicts of Interest

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - City Funding of Non-Profit Agencies

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Better Dialogue with the Public

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Public Information

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Helping Small Business, Start-ups, and Entrepreneurs

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - an Agenda on Health and Wellness

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Learn from National Studies & Surveys

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Independent Boards and Commissions

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Term Limits

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - New Rules on Conflicts of Interest

9) We need new and better defined rules about what constitutes Conflicts of Interest and the ability to construct a Citizen Review Board to look into such matters, since there is a Circular Conflict of Interest in the relationship between the City Manager, Staff, and the Council. And the sanctions issue needs to be clearly defined also. The head of the review board would be the acting city Ombudsman and these people will rotate on and off of this board annually.

The City Council inherently receives inside information. What do you think you call the information they receive in closed chamber sessions?

Inside Information isn't necessarily a bad word. It means that you are privy to information that the outside world isn't. Once again this is where transparency comes into play. Conceptual Authoritarian governments believe in absolute control of information. Absolute Control of Information empowers the government over the people and turns people into subjects... Subjected to Authoritarian Power.

Those who control the information in an authoritarian fashion decide who they will disseminate the information to. They pick the winners and the losers. If they like you, or maybe they need your help (or a favor), then they might tell you about a project that hasn't been made public yet. One thing you can guarantee, if they don't like you or you aren't connected to the power structure, then you will be kept out of the loop.

The free flow of information is very important in a free society and this needs to be taken seriously by leaders in a Representative Democracy.

We are constantly told that the message delivered to the outside world is important and needs to be positive; and I agree. The appearance of impropriety sends a message of impropriety and thus sends a very negative message to the public. As the elected leaders of the community, the council are the top hosts of the community. Civilized people are taught that as a host you serve yourself last, after all of the guests have been served. Your job as a host is to make sure that the people you are serving are taken care of, not that they are to take care of you.

Rudy Wright basically said that he and the city council are compelled to vote on all issues and that is the law. He is wrong. If he believes there is a conflict of interest, then he can always recuse or abstain. They cannot force him to vote on an issue. An abstention automatically counts as a yes vote. This has happened before. Other legislative bodies have a provision to allow voting yes, no, or present. That way you have an option other than a yes vote or a no vote. What is wrong with voting present? When council members know that other members have conflicts, and they sit idle and don't illuminate such information, then they are accomplices to the conflict.

If you feel compelled to vote... obligated to vote on every issue.. then you are obligated to be transparent about the issue. As an elected official, the voters will pass final judgment and make the final decision, with their vote, about how one votes and whether one has had too many conflicts of interest.

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - City Funding of Non-Profit Agencies

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Better Dialogue with the Public

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Public Information

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Helping Small Business, Start-ups, and Entrepreneurs

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - an Agenda on Health and Wellness

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Learn from National Studies & Surveys

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Independent Boards and Commissions

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Term Limits

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - City Funding of Non-Profit Agencies

8) Non-Profit Agencies applying for funding from or through the city, utilizing City Resources, whether grants or loans, must be willing to open their books and be subject to an audit (if necessary). Agencies, after a defined period (after start-up), would not be able to receive funding in consecutive years from the city.

We have seen Housing and Urban Developments (HUD) grants consistently go to the same entities without other organizations given due consideration. This happens annually during a city council meeting held in June. These are Federal Government grants that are filtered through the city government and there needs to be more transparency relating to the reasoning involving the allocation of these funds. We need to know who staff didn't recommend as well as who they obviously recommended.

We have also seen allocations directly budgeted and funded from the City of Hickory to the same community organizations annually. The requests for funding take place in February of each year. Essentially, over the years, we have seen that the presentations are the same with plugged in numbers. No one is saying that these entities aren't deserving . We would all just like to hear from all organizations looking for funding and we would like to see the Public-Private funding mechanisms encouraged and expanded.

As has been stated here before. Hickory Inc. should not be in the business of picking winners and losers; choosing favorites based upon relationships and such. If the city is going to participate in the funding of non-profit endeavors, then it must expand its outreach at the same time it ensures that these agencies are not dependent upon the city for their existence.

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Better Dialogue with the Public

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Public Information

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Helping Small Business, Start-ups, and Entrepreneurs

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - an Agenda on Health and Wellness

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Learn from National Studies & Surveys

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Independent Boards and Commissions

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Term Limits

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Better Dialogue with the Public

7) Dialogue - we need all Hickory governmental agencies and their staff to be open, truthful, honest, helpful and transparent. Willing to discuss and carry on open dialogues with the citizens.

In speaking with Jeff Brittain about his Mayoral Candidacy, he espoused his support to have regular townhall meetings with the people of Hickory. This is something that I have believed in for years, but I was told by City Council members that they had reservations, because they didn't want to sit through an attack session. I honestly don't think that people are going to verbally attack the City Council during such a meeting. People might express disagreements with the council, but I wouldn't expect shouting matches.

The problem is that this Mayor and Council seem to have an obsession about controlling messages. Somehow saying the same talking points over and over again is supposed to lead to results. Constantly spinning the message is supposed to keep the message on track until the final desired outcome is achieved.

Unfortunately that isn't how life works. You have to cite the goal you are looking to achieve and allow open input and free thinking methodology to define, design, and map out processes and then keep all options available moving forward. There must be defined targets of accountability along the way to assess whether you are on the path towards successfully achieving the goal. Adaptability, Flexibility, and Nimbleness are the keys towards successful endeavors in life.

Public officials should listen to everyone, whether they are actual supporters or not. Just because people have different ideas than you may have does not mean that they want to tear down the City. You must get outside of the group of like minded friends and yes men to find out what is really going on around here socially and economically. Having open-minded, democratic governance brings buy-in and acceptance from the public at-large versus doing things behind closed doors and manipulating processes to avoid input, which leads to ambivalence and eventually hostility when you are seen as picking winners and losers and the winners are always the circle that surrounds you. Any wonder why we don't have "Unity" in the Comm"UNITY"?

Jeff Brittain for Mayor Flyer
Click on the Flyer and Ctrl+ will magnify it.

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Public Information

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Helping Small Business, Start-ups, and Entrepreneurs

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - an Agenda on Health and Wellness

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Learn from National Studies & Surveys

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Independent Boards and Commissions

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Term Limits

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Public Information

6) Public Information should be user-friendly, open, and accessible in accordance with North Carolina General Statute 132. We understand that when legal issues and private negotiations related to Economic Development arise that there will be a need to keep certain information secret, but as those issues are resolved that information should be immediately accessible. To the greatest extent possible, information should be available electronically online. When information is from the pre-electronic era, it should be made accessible for a minimal cost (10-cents per page) and within 5 business days of the request being made. The key is that there should not be games played with Public Information.

Hickory Incorporated has long played fast and loose with the spirit of the law when it comes to providing Public Information. This led to the arrest of Rebecca Inglefield on September 13, 2012. Most people walk away in frustration when they find obtaining information to be riddled with such obstacles. Some people seem to think that this is alright and people should have to jump through hoops to obtain information or that they should not be provided information. If that is the case, then kiss free society goodbye. The level of control of information defines the level of Liberty (less) versus Tyranny (more).

Hickory City Officials tell you that the information you are going to get is the information you are entitled to under the law. What they don't tell you, but imply, is that it is going to be their interpretation of what they can get away with under the law and not a gram or an inch more. If you are a regular citizen and you don't understand the information, then tough, you'll have to go get a lawyer. If you are a lawyer, then you will have to meet them in court, because they aren't going to be forthright until a judge orders them to be and they have exhausted all appeals.

I don't want to say this. No one wants to say this, but it is what we have experienced as we have sought the costs associated with the Sails on the Square project. We have sought the actual and associated costs of the fabric the "Sails" are made of and we have met a stone wall every step of the way.

Any of the candidates who embrace this platform will help to tear down that wall!
 

(Play Song)   John Crone’s new single “Blurred Lines” featuring TI, Pharrell, Robin Thicke, and Rudy Wright


I am in no way associated with the site that created the song above. I have been accused of being the creator of this tumblr site, but it is very raw and has vulgar material. These vulgarities damage the credibility of the message, but I don't think the author cares, because it is a parody site. 

I think whomever created the site is very creative, but way over the top when it comes to the message. They took my material and the Conover Crusader's material and enhanced it in a very creative way. So I wanted to allow you to be able to hear the song without going to the actual site, because it fits very well with what we are discussing when it comes to the Hickory Incorporated relationship with Citizens and the spirit of Public Information Laws.

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Helping Small Business, Start-ups, and Entrepreneurs

5) We need to do what we can to help small business, start up businesses, and local Entrepreneurs move forward. This encourages entrepreneurship, which puts people to work. We will find a way to create and facilitate a microlending-entrepreneurial plan in this community. We think this is a vital mission and purpose that the city's Business Development Commission should embrace.

The BDC needs to be diverse and aggressive in its work. Marketing and promoting current business is fine, but it will not grow an economy that has lost thousands of jobs over the last several years. The BDC should be trying to attract “magnet” large businesses and focus on Cluster and Niche Economic Development that feeds off of the manufacturing and technical service skills of local citizens. This will generate “spin off” supportive small businesses. The Goal would be to expand and empower the scope of the BDC to facilitate tangible Economic Activity.

Hickory City Government has stood in the way of all of this. Rudy Wright has specifically stood in the way of this as he espoused on Hal Row's radio show in May 2011. The City Manager actually told a local citizen that it was illegal for Hickory Incorporated to get involved in a Microlending function, even though there are other local governments and other governmental agencies involved in such Economic Mechanisms/Activities.



This is a new day and we must think in a new way!

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - an Agenda on Health and Wellness

4) an Agenda on Health and Wellness...  The Gallup-Healthway study is a prime example of a valid scientific study that casts a negative light on Hickory. How do we address what this study finds? Dr. Jody Inglefield admits that he doesn't have all of the answers, buts says that is why we need local health professionals to weigh in, but what does stand out is the negative issues this community faces involving health.

31.2% of the people in this community are defined as Obese and this does not include those who are overweight. A recent Gallup survey, related to the Well-Being index, from July 22 of this year shows that the Heart Attack Rates Double in Low-Wellbeing Metro Areas - Average of 5.5% in metros with lowest wellbeing have had heart attack. The Hickory Metro is ranked as the 5th lowest Metro area in the country in relation to Gallup's Well-Being study. In the survey on Obesity, we are the 19th most obese metropolitan area in the nation with 31.2% of the residents of this area defined as obese. Our community is the lowest ranked metro in North Carolina when it comes to obesity and also physical activity.

We need an Agenda on Health and Wellness. "Wellness Well Crafted" would encourage, not mandate, healthy lifestyles. We do this by creating programming and opportunities to exercise, eat right, create personal health goals, and preventative care that are user friendly and can be maintained through the various stages of life.

We talk about people having a negative outlook in the community. Healthy people tend to have better mental attitudes. That is a fact. When you take away opportunities for people to be active and lead healthy lifestyles and turn a blind eye towards people leading unhealthy lifestyles, then it leads to what we have here in Hickory. Parks, Greenways, and recreation programming need to become a key component of this wellness agenda.

According to an article from the Live Science Website entitled The Skinniest and Fattest US Cities Revealed - Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor - March 07, 2012

Supporting an abundance of research linking obesity with a long list of health ailments, those living in the 10 most obese areas were much more likely, compared with the skinniest cities, to report chronic diseases, including diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and depression, at some point in their lives. For instance, compared with people living in the lowest-obesity cities, residents of the most obese areas were 70 percent more likely to report diabetes, 58 percent more likely to have had a heart attack, 30 percent more likely to report a diagnosis of depression, and 23 percent more likely to report high cholesterol, Gallup noted. [Infographic: Diabetes & Obesity in US]

Obesity not only plagues the individual, it can also drain Americans' wallets, with the National Institutes of Health estimating the average incremental health-care cost for an obese person is $1,429 every year. With that number, Gallup estimates that in the 10 metro areas with the highest obesity rates, Americans cumulatively pay about $1 billion more in annual health-care costs than if those states had obesity rates of 15 percent.

For example, the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metro area pays more than $400 million in unnecessary health-care costs each year because of its high obesity rate. If it reduced the obesity rate to 15 percent, the area could potentially save more than $250 million annually, Gallup estimates.

We are paying a price for not seriously investing in the community's health. You can read the above and see that serious investment in fitness pays for itself many times over. And yet, over the past decade we have seen recreational and fitness facilities/opportunities reduced and destructed. Exercise and Recreation should be more than afterthoughts in a city budget.

There are direct links that show that Health Disparities Across Incomes Are Wide-Ranging (Gallup - October 18, 2010); comparing those making less than $24,000 per year versus those with more income. Those in the lower income strata have greater chances of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart attack, asthma, cancer, depression...

Those with more wealth do not seem to understand that the overall physical health of the community, as a whole, affects the economic health of the community and thus their own  individual personal well-being.  These are investments well worth making.

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Learn from National Studies & Surveys

3) National Studies and Surveys - that rank us seriously low.  Expedite processes to study how they came to their conclusions and what we need to do to correct the circumstances; including contacting those who created and implemented the study to get their thoughts on what it would take to address the negative issues.  We need to look at improving every year, not regressing or responding to these scientific surveys.

Leadership in the community has constantly given individual anecdotal evidence to compare to studies that sample thousands of individuals weighted according to various demographics representing hundreds of communities across the United States. It is pure foolishness to believe that they are just picking on poor ole Hickory.

We look at institutions like Gallup, which has been doing Surveys around the world since 1935. US News and World Reports is a publication that has been around since 1933. Forbes, is a publication, which is a conservative business oriented magazine, that has been around since 1917. These are not fly by night operations.

You may not like Michael Milken, but The Milken Institute has been around since 1991. It's look at the Best Performing Economies in the United States is respected by many business professionals and economists. The Milken Institute's mission is "to improve the lives and economic conditions of diverse populations in the United States and around the world by helping business and public policy leaders identify and implement innovative ideas for creating broad-based prosperity."

Unfortunately the Hickory Metro area has consistently ranked in the bottom 10% of these surveys over the last decade. These are Business and Economic Activity related surveys. We are failing in Business and Economic Activity. Embracing these surveys means that we are taking a hard look at ourselves and seriously looking to solve the issues we face, not throwing something up and seeing if it will stick and cover up problems.

We must accept how we are being ranked in order address the realities and perceptions of the economy in the community.

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Independent Boards and Commissions

2) Independent Boards and Commissions - to lend a non-partisan perspective to the intended purpose/mission of the group. We need policies related to Nepotism and adherence to guidelines of term limits so that members of boards and commissions are not actual proxies of City Council members. We should not see business partners of Council members serving under Council members on Boards, Commissions, and Task Forces where there can be even a perception of a conflict of interest.

Openings should be filled promptly without delays. Citizens who ask to be on Boards and Commissions should have the opportunity to serve, if not a fair hearing and appeal process should be available.

This is not a dreamed up concern about a non-existent or anticipated issue. We have seen too many situations where City Council members immediate family are serving on these Boards and Commissions. We have seen where  business partners have served on task forces that weighed issues that can affect the business partnership. We have seen where people have filled out paper work to participate on various Boards and Commissions and been ignored and never appointed to any position, much less a desired position.

Through the last several years, we have been told how hard it is to fill the seats on these various Boards and Commissions, but we know of people who have gone through the process and never been appointed. Time and time again the Mayor has reiterated that 200 people serve on various Boards and Ccommissions, which is .5% of the Hickory Population of 40,010 (Newsletter - City Council meeting - July 19, 2011). We have seen the same circle of people rotate on and off various Boards and Commissions, when there were term limits, and we have seen what appear to be Lifetime Appointments to Boards and Commissions where there are no defined term limits. Every Board and Commission should be term limited. We have seen positions continuously go unfilled, when we know there are people who have filled out paperwork to serve.

Why is all of this happening? Because the leaders of this community want to control the productivity, findings, and message of the Boards and Commissions to meet their personal desires. Certain people in the community who have done nothing more than express concerns have been labeled as "Trouble Makers". The "Powers That Be" do not seem to want the checks and balances that come with Independence and Critical Thought. Unfortunately for all of us, that is how the best ideas and processes that lead to success happen. At the end of the day, as we have seen, the City Council will have the final say any way. Why the problem with people who lend a fresh perspective or take a second look at issues that this community faces? Why do they feel it necessary to stack the deck?

Platform for a 21st Century Hickory - Term Limits

1) Term Limits - We need to break the cycle of having Mayors and City Council members that serve on the bench for a generation. Thank You for your service, but such a system lends itself to stagnation. We need inspiring leaders to inspire citizens. It is time for fresh new ideas. We need to encourage people to serve on the Council and then move on to seek other offices or other ways to participate in the political system and to turn over the reins to others to create more depth to the community's leadership and varied interests.