Dave Maughan - a Mayors Opinion - Syracuse Utah

03/29/2023

09/11/2022

I remember being sent for work to New York a month after 9/11 and this was still the scene, still smoking. Never Forget

06/27/2022

I have not written on this page as much as I expected as I have put the most time sensitive information on the post used Syracuse sites. I do want to take a minute to note that there is still a part of the Mayors job I am getting used to. I did NOT seek public office for attention. I never want to let the example of politicians lead me to believe any part of this is about me. I got into this to serve the people as the voice that they want brought forward. Too often I am invited to events that feature those in public office and the speeches seem to focus on "keep me in office". I am not running for a second term from the start of my first. If I am able to get the will of the people pushed forward and still see work to be done, I may run, but I feel it is odd when people start talking about re-election before they focus on why they were elected to begin with. I also note that from the begining people start talking to you about your next term. If I can't help the people make progress I will not seek another term. I actually feel like we have made some amazing progress in the first 6 months. It won't all show for a few months. Many things we do don't show up instantly but some have. As Mayor I have focused on new business development and we have some success, MORE to come. I have worked on meeting preparations being more complete and as a result we don't talk about the same issue over and over again, and meetings are shorter because we don't rehash issues until one side gets their way. The council hasn't always voted they way I hoped BUT we address an issue when ALL the information was prepared and we moved on. I don't control votes and won't try to, but I do control making sure we address issues with all the information not just the information that supports one side. I actually thank my college English teachers for insisting I learn how to argue both sides of an issue not just one. I make sure we have asked the question "what if" for both sides before we take it to council so we have prepared complete information for a question and we are prepared to answer questions on both sides. So still not in this for attention as I have seen others get absorbed by. Still focused on the work. Still prefer to avoid photo ops. I prefer to put the focus on the great people around me who do their jobs every day.

02/08/2022

Just so people are aware, tomorrow could be the time you need to weigh in on the vote to increase your taxes.

Tomorrow night is a p***c hearing. The agenda item was meant to address the police wages to try and keep our police department competitive in the area. Police wages have been raised this fiscal year, but the increases in surrounding areas threaten our ability to retain and attract officers to fill our positions. Mid year evaluation is necessary when we have such a challenge.

The vote could be expanded to address the entire city wages. Normally that would be done in a truth in taxation hearing in August. If a vote to raise all city employees is done tomorrow night that commits the city to those wages and a truth in taxation hearing would be reduced to a formality. That means Tuesday nights meeting may be the hearing that is your chance to express any feelings you may have either way.

I feel like it is important for people to know about this. If people are shocked at their tax bill next fall and then learn they missed the opportunity to express themselves previous to any commitment, that would seem unfair. For that reason, I am making one more post to let people know that this question is scheduled for a vote Feb. 8th. City Hall meeting starts at 6pm. With the question of a tax increase that could range from 0%-110% people should know when to express their feelings to those who represent them.

02/05/2022

Today we had a discussion on direction for the city budget. Part of the discussion was the realization that we are understaffed in some areas. The city has grown by several thousand people, but year after year we just couldn't afford to add in some of the places we needed more people to keep up with the workload. We don't suddenly have the money to make up this difference. To spend money my experience has been we must find the money in the budget first. Shockingly I was met with lots of enthusiasm for an enormous tax increase to fund all of the solution at once. I am very hesitant. I don't think all of our citizens can manage such a tax increase all at once. I no longer have a vote, so it will be up to the council to decide. There will be a chance for the public to weigh in at a public hearing on February 8th. Decisions made that night could have lasting impacts. I want people to know that the time to share your thoughts is in that meeting.

01/26/2022

Filling a vacant council seat is always a challenging task. It seems the rules change every time we do it. Apparently, the mayor was not going to be allowed to vote unless we had a tie and we had some VERY good and qualified candidates that I would have supported in the early rounds of voting.

I want to thank those that applied. I hope some will consider serving in other places as opportunities arise. There are more ways people can serve in the city than just on the council.

I did end up breaking the final tie vote to seat Paul Watson who I believe will do a great job. I noted that I found it fitting that of the final 3 candidates 2 were the other candidates that were voted through the primary to the final election by the people of the city. Fitting because our election was only a few short months ago. It was an easy case to support a candidate that the people had recently supported with their own votes. Are we not representatives of the people?

01/18/2022

I have always been one to get back to people for 6 years while serving. I have to say I am sorry that I have not been as prompt getting back to people these first couple of weeks as mayor. Why? COVID-19. Covid hit me and my family hard. It is crazy how serious it affected our lives. Sure there are those who suffered worse and those who barely suffered any affects. For me it was debilitating. Crazy how serious those symptoms affected me.

From this we will get better and stronger. I urge all to take the concerns related to this pandemic seriously. We still have to live. We still have to do what we can to live some kind of normal life amid the challenges. To those who are accustomed to me responding in 24 hours, sorry I haven't been that, but I still care about those I serve. I still am committed to be a public servant, not a person seeking attention. I am here to work for you.

01/14/2022

It certainly has been a strange beginning to the office of mayor. Just before taking office I got a severe case of Covid-19. I was suprised how debilitating it can be. I was unable to do much that first week, but the world came calling anyway.
Surprisingly, it seems that many thing the city has money it doesn't know what to do with. In fact the opposite is true. Inflation is out of control and it is limiting what we can do just to continue opperations of the services you are accustomed to.
Because I have been around city government and this isn't my first trip to the city offices, I am well versed in the routines that happen every time someone changes offices. I have seen people come out of the woodwork to start right off thinking they can get handouts from the city before the new management realizes just how broke we are. The word of the first week has been NO. It doesn't mean no it isn't an interesting idea, but it means no we just don't have extra money we don't know what to do with. We will take care of basic services first. We will provide those things that tax payers are paying taxes for; utilities, safety, and basic operations.

12/14/2021

As a council member I shared with those I represent on major decisions and explained divided votes. My goal it to continue to keep people informed. As Mayor my role will be a little different so I am starting a new page and eventually will shut down the city council page. Same goal. I just want to keep people who want to be informed up to date. I will continue to reach out and communicate as I have done for 6 years now. The accountability is welcome.

I don't expect a lot of information until I officially take office on January 3rd. I am just getting set up so I can hit the ground running.