Steamboat Pilot & Today

The first thing I would like to clear up for your reading audience is that the Town of Oak Creek is not considering a pay raise for me.

We are considering a basic restructuring of the town government where the mayor would be a paid position. The reasoning behind this, as opposed to a town manager is that:

1) To run for mayor you must live in town.

2) If you live in town, chances are you at least "like" the town.

3) And it would be far less costly than a manager.

If either the Town Board or a vote of the public decide this is in the best interest of the town, anyone wishing to run for mayor would be given a list of the expected duties and responsibilities of that office when they come in to pick up their petitions to run.

When I was elected, I planned to work my regular job three days a week and at Town Hall two days a week until things calmed down. I actually thought I eventually could get it down to one day a week.

Like most average residents, I had no clue that so much of our infrastructure was in an emergency state of deterioration and disrepair. I knew we needed desperately to provide some type of safe and structured recreation for our youths, but as I discovered quite soon after taking office, whatever capital improvement funds the town has must be used for the aforementioned infrastructure.

The bottom line is that no decision has been made on this issue, and I am confident that the residents of Oak Creek are capable of making intelligent decisions for the good of our town and that polls by your paper will not influence us one way or the other.

Kathy Cargo Rodeman

Oak Creek mayor