Why you should vote for Craig Mount for Sierra Vista City Council This is it. The early ballots are mailed out and you will begin the process of ending this campaign (one way or another). This is my last big appeal before you start early voting. (About three thousand words, so have some time, or take it one section at a time). This election is so important for Sierra Vista. It is crucial that we elected the very best candidates and I know that I stand out from among the pack. Everything that I have done has been according to a very strict and specific plan. I wanted this campaign to be different than anything weve ever seen in the past. I didnt want to play it safe, I wanted to abandon the old establishment rules, and prove that any one of us can run for office in Sierra Vista (and win). 1) Unparalleled accessibility: No other candidate has ever been as accessible on the issues. I have answered every question in writing. We may not agree, but you know what I stand for, my opinions, my rationale, on every major issue. No other candidate has ever been as thorough. I said I want the voters to be the most informed ever, and to hold me accountable if I ever go against my written statements. No other candidate did that for you, but it was the cornerstone of my campaign. I answered your questions in writing, publicly posting them, and gave you my position. I reached out to more voters. I turned in more signatures than any other candidate running for a city office and earned a spot on the ballot. I knocked on more doors, spoke with more people, and heard more concerns. I made sure that I had more than enough registered voters to be on the ballot, legally and without controversy. We started a social media campaign that dwarfs all others. It was interactive, inviting, at times controversial, but always honest. And it has reached well over a thousand followers on multiple platforms. One Facebook post was shared over 90 times and hit nearly 7,000 people. I was only one of two candidates to be vetted by every political group and attend every forum. It didnt matter to me if it was the Tea Party or the Democrat Party, the NAACP or the Realtors Association, I showed up when asked and answered questions. My answers didnt change. I didnt have to chase down the Herald reporters to walk back a statement. Moreover, I always showed up with a book of facts and statistics. I didnt play politics based on ideology and ignore one group over another- I provided opinions on policy equally to all groups. Thats not safe in politics, but thats integrity. You have to choose between the candidates who didnt answer questions vs. the one who answered every question, in writing, and posted it publicly. 2) Unparalleled Independence: I did not solicit or accept any campaign donations and showed up with independent research on key issues. I promised that I would never let some persons money come between me and your interests. My campaign does not have a campaign manager who speaks for me, a bunch of donors waiting for me to do their bidding, or people pulling my strings. It has always been about this campaign’s relationship with the voters- and we proved that relationship is strong. I will serve all the citizens of Sierra Vista equally and without bias. Absolutely nothing is preventing me from doing so. I owe nothing to anyone, other than my gratitude for voting for me. I have successfully defended my independence even when other campaigns and politically minded people seek to ignore the facts for their own twisted narrative. I stand with the voters of Sierra Vista. That is who will elect me, not some has-been council member looking for a legacy. After a forum recently, the head of a local Sierra Vista political party approached and criticized me for concerning myself too much with facts and statistics.” That is a completely true statement and I will gladly wear that as a badge of honor in the world of Sierra Vista politics. My independent nature is built on a foundation of facts and statistics. Independent thinking is what we need in City Council right now. Our current council has voted in 99.5 percent of all the resolutions and ordinances since 2009 with 7-0 and 6-1 margins. This council, and the candidates backed by the former members of the council, own this economy, the business/economic culture, the red-light cameras, all of it. This is an example of group think and it should be broken up for the good of the group. You can rest assured that I will always show up with all the facts and statistics to vote for what matters to you and in the interests of the city- not because someone emotionally manipulated me into a bad decision for their benefit or against your interests. You have to choose either for those who continue to speak for the status-quo, using establishment lines, and rely on nonfactual and emotionally manipulative arguments vs. the one who never took a dime of anyones money and showed up with facts at every forum. 3) Unparalleled experience and education for helping solve our citys problems. Ive worked for a minority owned company for five years and watched it grow from a local start-up to a national success. I have grown with this company and now manage one its premiere contracts on Fort Huachuca. I have helped recruit and hire nearly every single one of my team members. I have managed budgets for labor, travel, and material purchases this position for half a decade. As a member of the United States Army, and in this position, I have helped manage multimillion-dollar projects, programs, and events for nearly a decade. No other candidate has that experience. None. I have built a reputation for being exacting, calculating, and precise managing my budgets, be it time, travel, labor, or spending. The teams that I lead are not micro-managed, allowed to operate within their expertise, and are champions for reducing wasteful practices. I want to bring that culture to Sierra Vista. I want a more efficient government. I have nearly a decade of experience in Sierra Vista/Fort Huachuca working on Army programs of all sizes as a Soldier and a Contract Manager. Not to mention my time, nearly five years, as a trooper of a US Army Cavalry Squadron, that deployed to Baghdad, Iraq (2004-05). However, I often forget that I have a whole other life before the Army where I worked in a bookstore, as waiter, a lifeguard as a college student. I worked as procurement officer for a fortune 500 company and helped manage millions of dollars of assets contracted for national banks and airline companies. I left an amazing job to join the military after 9/11 in my mid-twenties. I know the value of work at various levels, from the small locally owned, to the multibillion dollar corporation…other candidates are nowhere near as multifaceted with a diverse employment background I have earned Bachelors of Science Degree in Occupational Education. I have earned two Graduates degrees, a Masters in Management (Organizational Design) and a Masters in Public Administration (Government Policy). I have completed post-graduate work in Statistical Analysis, earning a SIX Sigma Master Black Belt Certification from Villanova University. Every single degree was earned as an active duty member of the US Army or as a full time worker with a family. I know how to manage my time. I will not waste yours. I have taught Management, Human Resources, and Structures & Organizational Design for several years at the university level, as a classroom lecturer, at the request of a local university. Partially to help other veterans and active duty military members earn their degrees. I am proud of that effort and still pursue the goal of every veteran earning a degree, even sitting down with our congressional representative a few weeks ago to discuss the GI Bill and veterans education benefits. No other candidate is as qualified. None has my resume. While I dont think that education or understanding of budgets are crucial to success- I strongly feel that success is about the investment of time and energy needed to reach a specific goal. I have invested heavily in time and effort and have successfully reached my goals at an early age...I will do the same for you, and for Sierra Vista. You have to choose between the candidates that are being propped up for their seats by connected individuals, even though they may lack the experience, education, or clear motivation vs. the one candidate that has already proven they can achieve your goals for the city, based on a history of hard work, determination, and tireless effort. This isn’t a popularity contest as some have tried to make it out, it’s a job interview. Vote with your pocket book in mind. 4) Unparalleled research and planning for are economic problems: I am the only candidate to present a written plan for economic growth and success. This is my priority. I prefaced the first three to give this one the weight it deserves. We have to insulate Sierra Vista from Fort Huachuca. We have to start doing this right now…we cannot afford to wait any longer. Make no mistake Fort Huachuca is vital. No other candidate has recently done more to help protect it. A few months ago, the Fort Huachuca PAO team approached our team to help create the video that highlights the importance of the fort. It’s currently being shown to help educate people on the importance of the fort. We just completed Enterprise Challenge 14, the largest event on the fort this year, and it was a success for both the fort and the local economy. I have nearly a decade working with experimental technologies, force structures, and the futures of Army Intelligence- believe me when I say, I know how important Fort Huachuca is. No other candidate is as engrained in the future of our proponent. It is what I do for a profession, and I take it seriously. However, the problem isnt simply protecting Fort Huachuca. We have hundreds of people (myself included) who work on things every day to show the value of the fort. We need a Sierra Vista City Council focused on saving Sierra Vista as well. Sierra Vista is already losing jobs. We lost nearly two-thousand over the last few years. Cochise County has lost more population than any other county in the entire United States. The top economic experts in the area have said we are in a localized recession. One has said that the biggest problem facing Sierra Vista is the Lack of strategic economic vision.” This is what our current city council owns with their 7-0, 6-1 votes over the last five years...this is why I am running. We need clear economic vision! We are also facing 2,700 job cuts on Fort Huachuca that represent the top percentile earners in our city. Other candidates, either due to lack of education or poor advice, chalk this up to the worst case scenario and hide their heads in the sand...wishing it wasnt their problem or it will simply go away. They have also never provided a plan for how to solve the problem. They use popular terms like economic development or economic diversity but they do not provide the details. First, we should prepare for more job losses associated with Fort Huachuca. It is healthy to consider secondary and interlocking economic drivers. Its also insulting to think that losing anything less than 2,700 is considered a success. We should remember we already lost 1,900- we cant afford to lose one more. Ask a parent who just lost their job, and is upside down on their mortgage, has kids in middle school, a car note, and all the other bills about their “worst case” scenario. I doubt that a candidate with a government retirement check or still living at home with their parents can understand the seriousness of this situation. It’s already happening in Sierra Vista every day, and I want to help stop it from getting worse. Second, I have a plan. I want to work with the city staff to audit and reduce wasteful spending within the city structure and processes. I want streamline decision making. I want to make things easier for businesses to move in. All organizations have waste, and modern organizations have flourished by focusing on waste reduction rather than increased efforts. It’s called efficiency. Once weve reduced as much wasteful spending as we can identify, then I want to reinvest the surplus back into economic infrastructure investments and start to grow a local business environment that provides a competitive advantage to our locally owned businesses. I want to follow the Plan for Prosperity that your tax dollars already paid for, and is not being executed. I want to hire an economic development manager to synchronize the combined efforts of our local business leaders, the Chamber, and other associations and our commissions. I want to help pay the positions salary by cutting the salaries of the council and mayor. We will teach our local businesses, if they choose to participate, on how to compete in external markets. Remember, if we lose jobs locally, we can still compete externally within healthy markets to mitigate the losses using e-commerce or social media marketing. I want to synergize the efforts of organizations like the EDF and IDA, or any other organization that takes taxpayer money to create jobs. It is a simple measure: If you agree to take taxpayer money than you agree to create jobs. We will work with them, but we will hold them accountable as long as they take your money. If they create jobs, they are rewarded. I want to create the process of recruiting tier 2 companies with high growth potential. I want the city council to lead the charge and go visit with these companies, sit down with them, and convince them to move to Sierra Vista. We cannot do that with people on the council who dont understand business or economics. The economic development manager will provide the interlocking strategy. We should recruit or grow local companies with strong ties to communications, big data concepts, technical innovation, medical technology, and software development. These represent the future of American industry, offer high wages mitigate pollution and water usage, and require little logistics. They will eventually replace our job losses associated with fort and give the city its own culture for the future. These will provide a larger tax base, while offering the opportunity to reduce individual taxes. We can rejuvenate our housing market, construction industry, tourism and hospitality industry through combined strategy. We can use our economic success to bring people to our city, and then use our scenic beauty to our advantage and get them to stay. Our hotels will swell with people coming for both business and pleasure. We can provide synergy between our tourism efforts and our business outreach efforts. They grow together, not in stove-piped separated efforts. We build as one, efficiently and dynamically. We can use our wealth to give political power to our state and national representatives to fight for more causes that we care about. Use our wealth to secure the fort through strong representation. That is how we save Fort Huachuca. This is a total plan that leaves nobody behind. It will require the efforts of everyone on the city staff, all the volunteers on the city’s numerous commissions, and a council full of smart people who understand the risk we face every year with Fort Huachuca. The only way to truly avoid the risk and take control of our future is to build a future that we own. Sierra Vista must begin to become self-sufficient. My plan will work…because it’s not “my plan” but a plan based on a dozen city’s that have all lost their primary economic drivers and had to adapt and evolve. Its already successful. You have a simple choice...some person without a plan vs. Craig Mount, the one candidate who can sit down right now with a team of people on the city staff, my fellow council members, the commissions, and start working for your future. Other issues: Red Light Cameras: I’m against them and helped collect over 6,000 signatures from city and county residents. I’ll continue to provide write-ups until they are voted on in November. Ballot Language: Ballot language should be clear and honest; not hidden and full of half-truths. Water Issues/San Pedro River: I am against extreme environmentalism that shuts down large portions of our economy. A healthy economy includes housing. I also stand against those who seek to use our limited water for their own profiteering. We live in a desert, we should conserve, and I’m for conservation education and free market corrections/innovation in response to the price of water. I do not support outside influences that seek to destroy our livelihoods. City Form of Government: I support the Council-Manager form of government. The Cove and The Library: We need a much stronger economy to sustain these quality of life factors. My plan fixes the revenue problem to fund these. In the meantime we can explore more efficient uses of the Cove and other ways to pull in revenue, like swim tournaments. Federal and State Grants: I am for the use of grants if they help provide an economic benefit to the city. Most grants have matching fund requirements. I would rather ease grant spending to focus on economic improvements. However, if the grant has good terms or is vital to maintaining the city (like street maintenance) than it should be considered. My first question will always be “how badly do we really need this?” I’ve laid out my case and I hope you consider me as you start to vote this week and all the way up until August 26th. We can win a seat in August. That will send a clear mandate to the other candidates and the current members of the city council that this is what you would like to see happen in our city. Remember, you do not have to vote for three candidates in the primary. You can choose to vote for less than three (such as one or two). If any candidate receives 50% plus 1 of the total ballots cast-, they earn a seat on the council. Please, go vote August 26th or send in those early ballots. Remember, I have never asked you for anything other than your vote and the opportunity to answer all your questions. Now, I humbly ask for your vote and I ask that you share this with as many other registered voters in Sierra Vista. Now is the time to talk to them and tell them what you think. The election will be determined in the next few weeks with the early ballots. I thank you all for your support and taking the time to read this lengthy letter. Words have power- You have read and heard mine, and they have informed you on my positions; now you have all the power by simply saying, “Yes, I’m voting for Craig Mount.” Vote for: Craig Mount for Sierra Vista City Council. On August 26th And please hit the share button.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 07:03:06 +0000
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