November City Council Message
By: William Neihaus, Contact this Councilmember
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Tough decisions: What's right?...What's popular?
Do the right thing or do the popular thing? When talking about the importance of decision making, President Harry Truman stated, "It's not whether it’s popular at the time, but whether it’s right... if it’s right, make it, and let the popular part take care of itself."
I am winding down a career of
more than ten years as a
Montgomery Council member. I
have voted on hundreds of
motions, resolutions and ordinances
in my tenure. I have tried
always to follow one philosophy– Do the right thing for the
community! I took an oath as a
Council member to do so! Most
times doing what’s right is also
what is popular. On rare occasions,
doing what is popular is
not right.
Taxes are never popular. But,
when I saw the recent park initiative,
I knew what was right. If
we are going to buy the land, we
should fund the purchase of that
park land with a dedicated tax.
This issue is squarely at the
crossroads of doing what is right
and doing what is popular.
I love our parks. While involved in city government, I supported the purchase of the land on Deerfield Road for Pioneer Park. As you may recall, the purchase also was tied to a park levy. I am very proud of our Pioneer Park, and equally proud that through good fiscal management we were able to pay off that levy/debt early and reduce property taxes for our citizens nearly 10 years ahead of schedule.
or against the levy, or for or against the park acquisition issue. My hope is that each citizen become knowledgeable about both of these issues and make their own decision on Election Day for what is right for our community.
serve you as a member of the Montgomery City Council. Equally, I have enjoyed working with our many volunteers on our Boards and Commissions.
For whoever succeeds me on City Council, my advice to you is to always try to do what is right for our community. In doing this, you will preserve the integrity of Montgomery and its government.
As for me, I hope the fish do what is right because soon, I'm going fly fishing!