It is with great pride that I serve this community.  I also want to praise the residents of Cottonwood Heights for your commitment and concern for our wonderful city.  In the past few months we have engaged in varied dialogs around different issues.  These conversations have been exemplary in the manner in which the engagements have been respectful and nested in dignity thus showing a willingness to learn by all parties.  One of the most illuminated elements of even the toughest conversations, is the continued conveyance of dignity even when there is not an agreed upon outcome.  This show of decorum is not always prevalent in conversations in many spaces today, but you, the citizens of our wonderful city have shown your fellow residents and people outside of our community how a community should engage one another.

Currently Cottonwood Heights is experiencing some significant issues that impact us all.  It will be imperative that we maintain our efforts to continue lines of community engagement concerning all topics that impact our city.  As a council and staff we are striving to develop directions that are conducive to having minimal disparate impacts on residents.  We are also striving to develop strategies that will not only help us to maintain the solvency in our current state, but to assure our populous that we are looking into the future.  Front and center of the proposals being presented is consideration of the varied populations that exist within our city.  There are families in Cottonwood Heights that are impecunious and those that are prosperous and every type of resident in between.  The ideas and directions the governing body considers takes these differences seriously and with the help of citizen input we will develop plans that will aid in continuing the wonderful environment and services our municipality provides.

Citizen Engagement is one of the areas that we need residents to consider.  This is where volunteering for one of the city’s various committees helps in creating channels of informed and aware connections.  Being a part of these committees gives you an opportunity to provide advice and or expertise you may possess based on your lived or work experiences.  There is so much strength afforded any organization when the insights of many individuals can come together to expand the vista of knowledge and understanding.■