How Government Should Be Ran

By Roger Norman Berg

A different approach to how government should be ran

1. Each employee rather they be a city employee or a contractor needs to subscribe to the idea that we are here to service the customer which is the citizens of Beaumont and the persons doing business in our city.

2. It is the policy of the city to look for the best method to provide the needed services as the most cost effective method.

3. The city since 1993 has had a policy to save money each year for a rainy day. Because of these savings, the city has been able to keep all employees, not cut any services and build need bridges, roads and public facilities

4. When it comes to planning, development and growth Beaumont has does it right. Back in the early 1990's the city council planned for the anticipated growth of the city. Before the first house was sold or the retail stores opened, new roads were in place along with the necessary traffic lights, intersections etc. Residents didn't have to drive on an uncompleted or under sized road. The developers paid for these improvements up front and they were completed before the homeowner occupied their new home. My position has always been that a City Council is like a Board of a Corporation. The Board sets the goals for the company and management implements them. When I came on the City Council in 1993 our city had a negative cash flow of over 2 million dollars. The only way we could fix this problem was to restructure how government worked. We realigned how the city functioned, we worked to get new sales tax producing entities in the city ( Wall Mart, Home Depot and Kohl's) are good examples of new businesses that have helped improve the financial status of the city. With this revenue we were able to hire full time Paramedics for our Fire Department, Build new recreational facilities and improve our Police Department. The city of Beaumont is financially stable and continues to find new sources of revenue without new taxes.