To clarify....

      I have had several people make the statement that I did some complaining about the current shape of Gardendale and the current Mayor and Council. I wanted to take a moment to clarify the points that I made at the Town Hall meeting Monday night.

    The 1^st thing I want to be totally clear about is that I have the utmost respect for Kenny Clemmons, Gary Morris, Peggy Tumlin, Oscar Mann, and Billy Flippo, and Wendell Phillips. I think they have given an enormous amount of their time to make this city a better place. I have known most of these people all my life, and I appreciate the things that they have done. They all have been very dedicated and their wisdom has been paramount to the success of Gardendale as a community.

   With that being said, I want to discuss my comments at the Town Hall meeting and the context in which these comments were made. I made four statements that some thought were offensive: 1) that the current council and Mayor had nothing to do with the new High School being built. 2) that we are operating in the red for the 1^st time in many years 3) the parks that the children play in are obsolete and 4) that we are losing businesses in Gardendale at an alarming rate. Below, I will discuss these four statements and my reasons for mentioning them.

   The new High School is one of the 1^st things that the current administration boasts about in their campaign mail-outs. This is a crowning achievement for the city, but for anyone in the local government to take credit for this is somewhat misleading. Our new school and the time of its building came about by the new county tax that we all pay. Building this school was totally decided on by the Jefferson County Board of Education.

   The city’s budget for 2008 is in the “red” for the 1^st time in many years. All of the incumbents have stated that they have been good stewards of our money, and for the most part this is true. The reason we are in the red is because our revenues are down, and this goes back to the fourth statement about Gardendale losing businesses at an alarming rate. Part of being a good steward is being able to foresee budget problems and work around them. If we were picking up new business, this would not be a problem. I have stated on more than one occasion (even before other candidates jumped on the bandwagon) that we should hire a top notch business recruiter and pay him by the job that he does.

   The other statement that I made had to do with the Baseball and Football complexes where our children currently play. My opponent lists this as another victory for our city. Stan Hogeland and his guys do a great job maintaining these fields. However, these are the same fields that I played on 35 years ago. We have added no fields or parking. The kids don’t have a place to practice once the season begins. There are no fields for kids above the age of 12 to even play on. We are one of the few communities in Jefferson County that cannot accommodate boys and girls at the same place. In my mind, this is unacceptable.

   I love this community. Let me say that once again: I LOVE THIS COMMUNITY. There is no way I could have made it through the last month without my friends and neighbors. I have stated that I wouldn’t live anywhere else, and that is as true as ever. I do believe that we have issues that must be faced NOW as opposed to later. We have quality people running for Mayor and Council in each ward. The decisions you guys make next week will decide Gardendale’s future. We need to pick a good TEAM to work for Gardendale. I ask that you give me your vote and allow me to be a part of that team.

 Mike “Buckett” Burkett

 

Hello Gardendale.

   I was sitting here looking over my blog trying to figure out what I haven’t discussed. The song “My Town” was playing in the background and I started comparing the song to our little peace of heaven here. It is very similar to the town the artist was referring to.

   Gardendale is unique because we are very fortunate to be able to worship in whatever way we feel led. We have Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Church of Christ, Independent, Mormon, Presbyterian, Lutheran and Church of God churches in our city limits. I am not saying all forms of worship are right or wrong (I am a Christian, raised in a Baptist Church), but I am saying that we have options. Many men and women have died in the last 250 years so we have that right. Each denomination seems to be thriving, and every where you look, churches are moving into bigger buildings or adding on. That is something that we can be proud of.

     We are also unique in that there are many places to eat and shop. We have franchises like Chic-filet, Dairy Queen, Wal-mart, Autozone, and Milos. We also have the individually owned places like Our Place, Main Street Café, Bento, and Foodland. But, Gardendale has fewer businesses right now than it did 2 years ago. There are more “for lease” signs in our city than ever before. Our budget for 2008 is operating $300,000 in the red. Something must change.

   I look at the current councilmen’s fliers and doorhangers, and they all talk about the things that have been accomplished in the last 4 years. They mention the new High School (the council and Mayor had NOTHING to do with this). They mention the splash pad and tennis court improvements (the first major Improvement in Park and Rec. in 3 years). Is there any coincidence it was an election year? Last but not least, they bring up the fact that we have $9,000,000 in reserve and this makes them “fiscally responsible.” But, if they had spent 2,000,000 of that stockpile on new businesses and opportunities, our reserves would be MUCH greater than the 9 million that they boast about.

   Right now Gardendale still has many attributes that are positive. We are still a great place to live. The problem is that we are beginning to slip. We are beginning to lose retail and food outlets to other cities. Our tax base is dwindling and so is the amount of money coming in. This election is critical to the future of our city and I believe we need some energetic, aggressive people to change the tide and get Gardendale going back in the right direction. I ask that you give me your vote on August 26, 2008. I will passionately go about getting "MY TOWN" headed in the right direction again. 

 

    

Representing....

When I had the discussion with my wife about running for city council, the two of us listed the things that we thought were needed to do a good job. Being able to vote the wishes of the people in my ward, even when I might not agree, was one of our main concerns. Being available from 8:00 A.M until 10:00 P.M. was another. Working well with the city employees, other Council members, and the Mayor was next. Last but not least was being able to have a passion for the city and its people so I can give 100 percent each and every day of my term.

  I had a major concern about having the strength as your councilman to be able to vote the Ward’s wishes as opposed to mine when they were different. I am very human, and one of my personal weaknesses has been pride. I have liked the fact that I have always been opinionated and not been afraid to speak my mind. However, in recent years the Lord has been working on me in many ways to open my eyes and soften my stances in many situations. I think some of you may call that getting wiser with age and realizing that I don’t know everything. I know that in recent years we have had a voice on the council, but to the best of my knowledge it has not been a voice of the ward as much as it has been that of one man or a group of men. I have decided that on every topic I will give you an opportunity to give me your thoughts, and I WILL vote what the majority of our ward wants.

   My job requires that I have a cell phone on 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. I have published that cell phone number and my E-mail address on many occasions. I will always be willing to help you from 8:00 AM. until 10:00 PM, and even afterwards in the case of an emergency. I live right across from the Vista Circle sign and have two boys that are in public school, so much of my time I am in Gardendale. I will also have supper every last Tuesday of the month at Hamburger Heaven, and I encourage you to bring your concerns there to have supper and discuss issues you would like me to take to the next council meeting.

  I have had many dealings with different city employees over the years. I feel like the city of Gardendale has been fortunate to hire the quality people that we have that work for the city. I also feel like they should be compensated as well as possible for the jobs they do. I have a good relationship with 4 out of 5 of the Mayoral candidates and look forward to the possibility of working with them to improve our city. I do not personally know Jonathon Dunagan, but I doubt we would have trouble working together. I feel as though each and every Council candidate has many qualities that would benefit Gardendale.

  My biggest strength is the fact that I LOVE GARDENDALE, and there is no other place I would call home. I have 2 boys and a baby on the way. I want these guys to grow up here and have the quality of life that I had when I was growing up here. The things that make quality of life good are feeling safe, being able to shop and eat close by, to be able to worship, and have good things to do. I will passionately work to bring in these kinds of businesses and opportunities to our city. Gardendale is still the best place in Jefferson County to raise a family, and I want with all my heart to make it better.

  We are a few short weeks away from you deciding who will represent you for the next four years. I hope you will give me a look. I am not perfect, but I will keep every promise that I make to you. I will be in Brentwood and the apartments this week. I am available on my cell at 238-1272 and E-mail at mburkett@charter.com for anyone that would like to speak to me. Thank you for your consideration, and have a very blessed day

Mike “Buckett” Burkett

Back to the issues...

My last blog post mentioned that I have decided to stay in the race for city council. And really, it didn’t take me very long to come to this decision. I received numerous calls and e-mails from family and friends reminding me that my children wanted me to run (especially Katie, our daughter who passed away in an automobile wreck on July 20^th). She was proud of me for wanting to try to make things better. Needless to say, I am going to stay in the race and try to convince you to let me serve you. With that being said, lets move on to the issues:

   There have been many thoughts surrounding the Caufield Square issue. This topic has been on the minds of Gardendale citizens since the last election. The current Council and Mayor made a big deal about getting this huge shopping complex deal done, conveniently releasing the so-called plans the week of the election. And as we all have witnessed, they abandoned those plans once re-elected, and the whole deal fell through. The fact that the Caufield Square issue was handled in this fashion was a key reason for me deciding to run for council in my ward. I can’t say I will never make a mistake, but I will be bold enough to stand behind the decisions I make and the words that I say.

   The city was counting on the revenue the shopping center would bring in. The tax dollars would have gone a long way toward making significant improvements in services and opportunities in our city. I believe, however, that a big time mall is not necessarily what we need. I believe we need to fill the many vacant commercial spaces, now posting “for lease” signs in their windows, with legitimate businesses and “open for business” signs. How do we go about doing this? My belief is that we need two things to make this happen:

    First, we need to hire a full-time, top-notch business recruiter - someone that goes out and shares the many attributes our great city has to offer them. Businesses today are not going to just show up and bring in tax dollars. We must convince them to come to our city without having to give away the kitchen sink in order to get them. Gardendale has many reasons for businesses to locate here, and we must make that apparent.

    Secondly, we must contract the services of a real city planner or engineer. Gardendale must not bring in too much too fast. The services and traffic flow of the city must be able to accommodate the businesses we bring in. A planner would keep us from having traffic jams around the schools every weekday morning and make it where you can get from church to the restaurants on Sunday afternoons. Uncontrolled growth could be just as devastating as losing tax dollars.

  Please do not hold the fact that I considered not running after last weekend against me. I wanted to step back and re-evaluate everything about my life, not just my council run. I will give you all that I have, I will never vote my ideals over your wishes, I will always be available to you, and I will not stay in office more than 2 terms.

 Thank You for Your Consideration,

Mike “Buckett” Burkett