Wednesday, October 24, 2001
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Wednesday, October 24, 2001 |
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PTC Council Post 4 Fritz: Council has made tough choices As I struggled to narrow the topic of discussion for my third letter to the editor, I called a good friend to use as a sounding board. He made me realize what all the issues boil down to is leadership. What is it to lead? It is the ability to show the way and guide by persuasion, example, or argument. The events of Sept. 11 changed all of our lives forever. That is without question. We are living in unprecedented times. Analysts can try and make best guesses, but no one can guarantee what the future holds for us six months from now. What do we do? I can only look to my personal life and draw from those experiences. Having been born and raised in Central America, and having married an Air Force fighter pilot who decided to abandon the known for the unknown of becoming an airline pilot, my first thought is ... don't panic, take a deep breath, and don't do anything stupid. Assess the situation, and keep in check the knee-jerk reactions. Remain calm, continue to assess the situation, and adjust accordingly. I take that philosophy to my public service. Current events caused Council and staff to realize we needed a budget contingency plan, and Council approved one at the last council meeting. General Colin Powell said, "Organization doesn't really accomplish anything. Plans don't accomplish anything either. Theories of management don't much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds." I believe this city has those people. Earlier this year, at the recommendation of our financial services director and city manager, City Council adopted a set of financial policies to help guide the city in establishing stable financial management for the future. While recent events may slow us down a bit from reaching the goals set forth in those policies, I believe we will prevail. Peachtree City is actually in better shape than one would think. The majority of what we have is paid for, and we have relatively little debt. It is like you or I having paid our house and car debts off, and having a credit card balance of a couple thousand dollars. Would you consider yourself broke? Of course not. Do you have ongoing expenses? Yes, you do. I am not going to stand here and tell you I have all the answers, because I don't. I don't even know all the questions. We are forging new, uncertain territory, where no one has the answers. I cannot in good conscience make you promises I may not be able to keep. What I can promise you is I will continue to be conservative, and not jump to conclusions. I will continue to do my homework, and I will continue to stand up and make the tough decisions that will affect the future of Peachtree City. With all the uncertainties that hang over us, there are also a lot of changes coming to us from the state. It is going to require a lot of time, patience, and dedication to learn about these changes and how we are going to deal with them. I will make the time. I have the drive, commitment, and leadership to meet those challenges. I am committed to Peachtree City and her future. I ask you to let me continue to work for you and serve our city. When you cast your vote on Nov. 6, please vote for Carol Fritz. Carol A. Fritz Candidate for Peachtree City Council Post 4 carolfritz@mindspring.com
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