It’s evening, most people are long gone for the day. I’m still here in the office, the first evening of what I am sure will be a regular occurrence. Enjoyable, for sure, but already becoming stressful. I’m sitting alone, shades drawn, a hit of Johnny Walker Black in hand, thinking about what’s coming, very rapidly.
It’s a lot.
I’ve been in office only been a short time and time is moving quickly.
I have Elyse for my old gig in tourism. And Bentley seems like he’s in for parks and rec, as does Silas on security. Bitsy, well, I’m sure she’s in for something undefined. She’ll never go away at this point.
I don’t consider myself a natural manager – in fact, I have contacted several people from the previous administration for advice as to how to get everyone up to speed as quickly as possible
I can already see that I will need someone to do the close-up monitoring of most day-to-day areas of city government activity so I have time to accomplish all of the amazing, visionary concepts I (or, I guess, we … Bitsy gets a lot of credit) campaigned on. I mean, if they voted for me, they must realize that tourism is a HUGE part of what I’m here to drive … right?
Tourism will make or break my administration, I am certain. I see two major areas of interest, in particular: Trader’s Bend and Hilltop.
So much will go into the success or failure of these two initiatives.
I’ve got to get the public on board.
Neither area is smooth sailing.
Take Trader’s Bend, the island in the middle of the Chickotee. Transportation to and from is a major hurdle that will require state involvement and approval, be it by boat, bridge, or air. Second, getting permission and agreement from private ownership to use portions of the Hilltop estate for tourism without disturbing ongoing activity and projects, commercial and otherwise, is also a major hurdle (Albert’s not thrilled, but that’s another story).
I plan to start working immediately on Albert on a casual basis about Hilltop’s inclusion in our tourism plan, this before anything is formalized.
If we have success with these two issues, other lesser issues, including those brought up by citizens, will also be considered and handled.
I will have to be sure and solicit ideas and input from all residents for these and any other areas of interest that they may suggest. We will surely need several iterations of interaction with residents in order to get something that even minimally approaches consensus.
I’ll have to put together a multi-year plan and submit it to the public seeking voter support.
Then, and only then, having gotten the necessary support, will I be able to move ahead formally, contacting and getting proposals from designers, architects, developers, contractors, financial institutions, and other providers. And of course, state politicians and civic administrators must be involved. Middle Valley residents must also be recruited and involved in committees from the beginning. Most importantly, I will need the help of a full-time, experienced, project management assistant starting on day 1.
Maybe even now.
This project is a big undertaking. It’s exciting.
But it will not be easy.
Not by any stretch.
Jenny Page