I have studied the comments by and for city council candidates as well as reviewing council meeting videos. I have discussed many issues with various current and former city employees, many of whom I worked with in over 50 years as an economic and resource development officer in this community as well as surrounding counties, statewide projects in Iowa and 38 other states, and many national level projects which I was asked to serve on.

I am not a politician. I enjoyed putting together working teams to achieve shared outcomes. I believe my credentials clearly support my claim to being an economic development professional in the older classic definition of that term.

To view this upcoming election as one of the most critical I have witnessed in my time as a local taxpayer is an understatement. It is very important to vote your wishes for the future of this community, one way or the other. You will have to live with the results.

My own opinions are just that, but are the result of what I have seen and heard in the past weeks: (1) If you believe the current trend to develop many new projects with input from a small segment of the community with council members voting as a block who believe in an amazing growth vision funded by a lot of public finite resources, then vote for Isom and Reyes; (2) If you believe in a more cautious and studied approach backed by due diligence and statistical analysis with real opportunity for broad community input and discourse, attention to conservative fiscal policy focused on paying old commitments as well as realistic new needs, and a council of individual members voting on behalf of their unique areas of representation, then vote for Mitchell and Thompson.