As a follow up to my most previous article in the Mitchell Republic, I wanted to share some statements and also share some stories people have told me in the past.
First of all, when I mentioned the good old boys, this is what I was referring to.
The “Good old boys Club” is not a group of regular meeting people in a secret location, having weekly meetings and discussing their plans and bringing agendas and jotting down minutes. The “good old boys” is a mindset, or a way of thinking.
It’s the influencing of someone to keep out certain business that may create some sort competition.
Have you heard about the manufacturing or packing company that wanted to come to town but was blocked, or the restaurant that was treated rudely so they lost desire to come here? I think we all have, but are they real?
I had some people tell me I need to do more research before posting opinion articles. I reached a limit on my research and posted an article with all available information. Which then reached out to the roughly 15,000 people that live in our community to get their input. There is no better research than asking the people who live here what their first hand experiences are.
After the article last week came out, I had a flood of private calls and messages about people’s experiences dating back to the 1970’s about things they had personally witnessed, including managers or people that were on previous city council seats. All witnessing things they said was not in the best interest of the community.
But as for today, I’ll tell you from a city standpoint, with my 6 months of working here nearly every day. There’s nobody standing in the way on my team. Our planners, building inspectors and other staff have guidelines they need to follow to comply with ordinance, and that is equally fair to everyone. There is nobody at the city level standing in the way!
I stated some facts of our pay, based on accurate data from City-Data.com and their information comes from a combination of publicly available government data as well as private sources.
I pointed out information, and posed some questions about what could be the cause. I wanted to make sure I never implied our great businesses were doing anything wrong, even though some took my article that way.
I’ll tell you I have personally been on a mission to do everything I possibly can for any local business that asks for help, and also any new businesses that are looking to move here. I’ve been using my network of friends and businesses to make any connections I can to help bring new business and commerce to this town as well as support those we already have.
I’ve went to nearly every event I have been invited to including plays, comedy nights, contests, main street events, concerts, sports events and so many private events or speaking engagements.
I don’t look at bringing new business to this town as competing with what we already have.
There are many voids we need to fill in our community resources that all would be welcomed. From restaurants to manufacturing to retail. I feel like we do a great job supporting current businesses in our town currently and will continue to do the same in the future, with both new and existing establishments.
It takes a community to help these businesses thrive, but it also takes a lot of outside money as well. We have 15,000 people in this town but our tourist numbers are over 200,000. The more resources we can capture from those travelers, are just more resources that will stay in town to help us thrive.
The same goes from exports. If we provide services or products that get exported out of town, we import dollars. Those dollars keep our community going in the same positive direction we are heading now!
I am 100% ALL IN on Mitchell’s success. Whatever it takes, whatever people ask of me, I’m there in full support. I’ve done everything from riding a bull at a rodeo, to sacrificing my remodeling business to give this community everything I have, because that’s how much I want this community to thrive!
