Blast from the Past: The Swearing In Ceremony, March 18th, 2016.

Please Note: In the blog post below from last year’s Swearing In ceremony is mention of a possible “Chief Information Officer” being hired by the City. After a bumpy start the City did hire a young fellow named Ben Kerr who is doing a tremendous job. Unfortunately though, Mr. Kerr will end up some day on the radar of some city manager in another city with a bigger budget. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen any time soon.

If you’ve been paying attention, you have seen the welcome and consistent flow of information coming from the City. Prior, others had to take time away from important duties to try and get information out and sadly, many times the press and media had already done that, too many times reporting false and misleading information to the public.

The adage is, “If you don’t control your message, then someone will control your message for you.” Hope you enjoy this look back to what happened in the City Hall chambers last year:

The City Commission convened a special meeting in order to certify the results of the municipal election held this past Tuesday. Residents, family and supporters filled the Commission chambers to hear the newly re-elected Mayor Triolo and Commissioners Maxwell and Amoroso. Better late than never, commissioners McVoy and Maier participated in the meeting. It was apparent their supporters, and those that campaigned for the opposing candidates, chose not to attend this festive occasion.

Mayor Triolo thanked many friends, her family and people who work for the City for all the support that allow her to do her job. Commissioner Maxwell did a great job at summing up what the landslide results from the election mean to him and to the City’s future. Commissioner Amoroso gave an emotional talk thanking his many supporters. He even threw out a mention to Yours Truly, along with Mark Easton of The Lake Worth Herald, as being reliable sources of truth for what goes on in the City.

Clearly, this team received a mandate. It is time to forge forward over these next two years and accomplish even more than the previous years. The Commission can’t be caught looking over its shoulder. It must lead, inform and instruct through improved and upgraded communication, including more social media. I’ve heard the term Chief Information Officer, or CIO, possibly being a idea. That would free up staff to concentrate more on their assigned duties, the ones they were hired to do.

I hope you join me in looking positively at the prospect of these next two years. And, as always, Thank You! for visiting my blog, Wes.