One thing I didn’t fully appreciate before I became Mayor is the importance of, and the effort required to, build the partnerships and teamwork that make a city successful. To create a city where a person can Live, Work, Play and Pray their entire life, necessarily means we work closely with the County and State governments and their various agencies, non-profits and citizen groups of all kinds, contractors, consultants and service providers, and even our neighbor cities. Of course, we work daily with individual citizens on projects and needs of all kinds. And perhaps the most unique thing about city government is that elected officials are elected on a non-partisan basis. That doesn’t mean we agree on everything (not by a long shot), but it means we don’t run for office with a party label. And in an environment where all other politics is not only partisan, but seems completely polarized, it gives us a great advantage: we don’t begin addressing every issue by going into our two separate corners and deciding how to malign the other side. Among the members of Council, we have worked hard to set aside any partisan differences to focus on delivering services to our citizens.
The City of Tucker’s success is directly attributable to focusing on our priorities and key responsibilities, and to our efforts to nurture and strengthen teamwork and partnerships toward that end. Over the course of the past five-plus years, we’ve fostered solid partnerships among our Council, with the private sector, our public utilities, our public schools and with many more entities. Perhaps the most important inter-government relationship that affects all our daily lives is the one we have with DeKalb County.
A partnership isn’t an “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” arrangement. It’s about mutual respect, and recognizing that when one partner is successful, both are. Though we have different responsibilities, we both understand that nine times out of ten, what’s good for us is good for them. Because of this, we get excellent service delivery when it comes to policing, fire and rescue, sanitation, and a range of other services. The relationship requires constant communication and nurturing to remain strong.
Our partnership with DeKalb County begins with the relationship between our elected officials, and that means our Mayor and City Council working with DeKalb’s CEO and the seven County Commissioners. Of the commissioners who represent the City of Tucker, Steve Bradshaw has served the longest, and is currently the Commission’s Presiding Officer. We have worked with Steve on more projects than I can count, especially in our Tucker parks. Beyond all his other regular duties, Steve hosts a quarterly meeting with all the Mayors in his district, where we exchange concerns and needs from both sides, that I have personally found very helpful in making progress together. He is a friend to the City and we are grateful for his spirit of cooperation.
The two newest commissioners representing parts of Tucker are Lorraine Cochran-Johnson and Robert Patrick. Both Lorraine and Robert have proven themselves to be very responsive to the needs of Tucker residents. We saw this most recently when the large item pickup promised by the Sanitation Department skipped large parts of Tucker and left lots of items on our streets and curbs. They both responded personally and quickly to correct the situation immediately. There are plenty of other examples, but even beyond that, they have supported projects in the City with their discretionary county funds. Most recently, they each directed $50,000 toward completion of the redesigned intersection in front of the new Smoke Rise Elementary School. The money is only part of the total funding for a huge project, but it shows that they are interested in the safety of our students, parents, and teachers and that we trust each other to do the right thing. What could be more important?
CEO Mike Thurmond is himself a citizen of Tucker, and we have worked since the beginning to forge a strong working relationship. As the Chief Executive Officer, all the nuts and bolts of getting things done ultimately fall to him, his Chief Operating Officer and their staff and department heads. Our city staff leadership team works closely with them daily. Our City Councilmembers spend a great deal of time during and after hours getting to know the commissioners, helping them understand the needs of the people of Tucker, and figuring out the best ways to deliver services together.
Similar teamwork takes place every day with all the other partners I’ve mentioned, and credit for these healthy relationships goes to a lot of different people who work hard to make them work. Just like in our personal lives, we need relationships and partnerships in order to thrive. It will remain among our highest priorities to continually nurture and strengthen them.
