A Few Minutes with the Mayor – September 2019

Long, long ago there was a fellow named Charles Atlas. That wasn’t his real name, but it sounded good for a body-building guru which he certainly was. Everyone knew about him because his ads were everywhere… especially in comic books where they were sure to get most kids’ attention. His ads included one picturing a “97 pound weakling” at the beach with his girl when a bully kicks sand in his face. The girl loses all respect but the young man sends for Atlas’ physical “dynamic tension” course and in no time is back at the beach with scores of young women gazing at him in admiration as he beats the tar out of the bully. Heavyweight boxing champions Max Baer, Rocky Marciano, and Joe Louis, who knew something about beating the tar out of the other fellow, all took his course. Yours truly didn’t, so when I enlisted in the U.S. Army and found myself in General Patton’s postwar outfit, I felt very much out of place with the combat veterans I worked with. I was what might accurately be called a 129 pound weakling carrying an M1 rifle that looked bigger and heavier than I was. One look at me and the German High Command would be sure to think victory was inevitable. Still, I must have done alright because when my term was up I was asked to re-enlist. Having other plans, I turned them down. That was 70 years ago, almost to the day you are reading this. Until moving to Jacksonville, nowhere in that span of time did I dream of becoming the Mayor, and even when on the City Council I still had no such plans. A higher power than I had other plans.

I mention this because the Oregon Mayors Association just held its annual meeting right here in Medford. Attending that meeting brought me face-to-face with dozens of other Mayors; some from big cities, many from small cities such as ours. Whomever I talked to, there was a common factor at work. A city’s heart and soul is reflected in the face of its support staff, and most importantly, its City Manager. A Mayor may have vision and the drive to go with it, but without the right staff and Manager, that vision will seldom be fulfilled. It won‘t even get off the ground.

Jeff Alvis had been running our Public Works Department for years by the time I became Mayor. The City Administrator’s job was open and there were a few voices suggesting we conduct a search to fill the job. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that the man to fill that job was right here. Since I’m not a rocket scientist, I put Jeff Alvis’ name up for the job and the City Council heartily approved the choice. Jacksonville has been the better for that decision in all these years as most of you know.

Good City Managers/Administrators are very hard to find. Not all cities are as fortunate as Jacksonville. I heard many a sad tale at the OMA meeting. One large city along the I-5 corridor has a city manager fighting his own City Council to get a meals tax on the ballot. Brushing aside any objections, he seems to pay little heed to arguments against the idea. But, that’s the way agenda-driven people operate. Damn the torpedoes… full steam ahead. These people come into a work environment, pursue their goal of change, and then, moving to new jurisdictions, brush aside the problems their policy created.

That could have happened here. When first taking office, your Mayor and Council were approached to hire a manager available in the marketplace. That individual had a history of eliminating police departments in favor of contracting services, always with dire results for the local population. Most of you know I have a strong affinity for the officers in blue. Perhaps that comes from my days with Patton’s men. It was easy to say “No!”

For the record, let me say that not many towns as small as ours have their own Police and Fire Departments. Be proud of our Public Safety men and women. Every one of them wants to do the best job they can and to perform that service for you… just like the mantra for Patton’s men and women… “Do more than is required of you!”

Featured image: Jacksonville Mayor Paul Becker with City Administrator Jeff Alvis