Mayor Teresa Tomlinson in 'audacious' speech: ‘We are remaking this city’

Mayor Teresa Tomlinson didn’t shy away from controversial topics while delivering a State of the City address on Friday.

While challenging Columbus citizens to be big, bold and audacious with their dreams for the city, she spoke about the 2014 lawsuits filed by four elected officials — former Sheriff John Darr, former Muscogee County Superior Court Clerk Linda Pierce, Marshal Greg Countryman and Municipal Court Clerk Vivian Bishop.

The luncheon, sponsored by the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce, drew 300 people from various sectors in the community to the Columbus State University Cunningham Center. Also, in the crowd were the mayor’s husband and parents.

Sheriff Donna Tompkins and Muscogee County Superior Court Clerk Ann Hardman — the two women who unseated Darr and Pierce in 2016 — sat in the front of the room. And the mayor acknowledged their recent election to office.

“Mostly etched in my mind is that day in November 2014 when major pillars of our community, two constitutional officers, and two long-serving elected municipal leaders, chose to sue our city, our Columbus Council, the mayor, city manager and other public servants over budget amounts,” Tomlinson said later in the speech.“A press conference of the lawyers of those litigants was held. They were loud and raucous in their spitting disdain for our long-held process — the budget process, the most sacred trust of a government official.”

Tomlinson said she didn’t bring up the subject to “reopen a now cleansed and healing wound of the community,” but to remind listeners of the “herculean effort that it took to right this wrong and reaffirm our civic order.”

“I bring this up to ensure that we do not take for granted the importance of the battle fought and the victory won,” she said. “We need to commend the bravery of those councilors, administrative appointees and lawyers who could of folded, but who refused to allow our lawful and deliberate process to be so erroneously impugned. We need to commend the citizenry, who at the ballot box handled in the ultimate political manner that which was initiated for public purpose.

“And we must always remember that we, the local government and the citizens, won in court on these budget issues before this past year’s political season provided yet another cure,” she added. “ ... So as we reflect on where we have been, let us not forget our own history and our painful, costly battles, and the important vindication of the effectiveness, the validity, and the honorablity of our local governing authority, the Columbus Consolidated Government.”

Tomlinson said the achievements of government officials often go unnoticed and she shared a litany of successes that the city has had in recent years. She thanked leaders at the Chamber of Commerce and Fort Benning for their work in bringing new jobs to the community. She mentioned the recent announcements of 510 new jobs at Pratt & Whitney and the Security Force Assistance Office and Military Adiviser Training Academy slated for Fort Benning.

“With the help of Fort Benning, the help of the chamber, we have had 1,100 jobs announced in 10 days,” she said. “I thank you all for that, not many cities get to have this type of celebration, and we need to revel in it while we can.”

The mayor said she remembers when some people thought the city would never expand public transit service.

“Now our metro ridership is up 15 percent in the first eight weeks,” she said. “And employers cite that transportation infrastructure as an essential component of our competitive viability for jobs and the millennial population.”

Tomlinson said she also remembers the barrage of emails and social media posts by advocates over animal rights issues. That led the city to reform the Animal Care and Control Center, which reduced the euthanasia from 80 percent to 20 percent.

“Just last month we learned that our resulting Columbus Save a Pet Plan has won the prestigious Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Bright Ideas Award,” she said, igniting applause from the audience.

The mayor thanked Columbus State University for the bustling renewal of downtown and the opening of Frank D. Brown Hall. She also recognized the leadership of City Manager Isaiah Hugley, whom she described as “one who the state has declared, and I whole heartedly agree, is the best city manager in Georgia.”

“Despite the odds, and in the face of too many naysayers to count, our city manager, staff and council have stayed the course to revitalize areas of our community,” she said. “These areas were left behind by the growth north. They have good-hearted, salt of the earth neighbors, who fight daily the fray of community and disintegrating families that breed crime, under-performing schools and an ill-equipped workforce.”

She said Columbus Council approved funding this past year to transform Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and the Winterfield neighborhood at Cusseta Road and Brown Avenue. She said the city owes it to the residents in those areas to bring the infrastructure and development so they can thrive.

And then the mayor asked those in the audience to brace themselves as she dispelled some myths.

“Crime is down and significantly so,” she said. “Now, that doesn’t mean that there is no crime, that doesn’t mean there are not incidences of horrific crime in Columbus. There are. But far fewer crimes are happening now than in years past and we need to appreciate that.”

In 2008 and 2009, crime was at its height in Columbus, she said, with 15,500 Part I crimes. In 2016, there were 10,571.

“That is 5,000 fewer crimes, and 5,000 fewer victims,” she said. “That is a 33 percent decrease in overall crime since its height in 2009. That is a 34 percent decrease in property since its height in 2009, and that is a 17 percent decrease since violent crime in 2008.

“... So, why is there a constant clamoring that crime is out of control in Columbus?” she asked. “Here are some thoughts: Crime shakes our basic sense of security and well-being, which goes to the core of citizenry and it consumes our consciousness. So it will always be at the top of citizens’ concerns.”

Tomlinson said crime is often politicized “by those who wish to cast themselves as law-and-order community leaders, and who believe that crime is only a manifestation of insufficient public safety funds and a proclaimed weakness of the elected leader who is not their choice.”

She said crime is happening in areas where it never used to happen in the past, such as suburban neighborhoods. That combined with social media has added to a sense of instability, she said.

Tomlinson also took the opportunity to address criticism of the city’s finances. She said the Columbus Consolidated Government was named one of the 2016 Top 50 Best-run Cities in America. She said the city’s budget process and product received the Government Finance Officers Association Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the 25th year in a row. And the FY2015 Comprehensive Financial Report received a clean independent audit.

“Our current budget is the first in 16 years where the General Fund was balanced with no reserve funds,” she said. “Columbus has the lowest per capita expenditure of any comparable Georgia community. We provide good government to citizens at roughly $1,300 per person while our peer cities, such as Augusta, provide services at $1,600 per person. And Savannah provides services at $2,400 per person.

“Our city’s annual operating budget has shown a total negative 3.6 percent growth rate in the last six years,” she said. “So we’re not wildly increasing expenditures as some have erroneously suggested. And yet, we allot 40 percent of our budget to public safety and have the highest per capita expenditures for public safety of any comparable community in Georgia. ”

She said the city has provided an 8.5 percent pay increase to all employees and an 11.3 percent pay increase to police officers in the last six years.

“We have challenges; they are largely systemic to tax structure,” she said. “Yet, as we go forward to work with the system that we have and the challenges that we face, we simply must grasp fact and reality with both hands.”

The mayor said the city is building a network of 60 miles of biking and pedestrian paths through the Dragonfly project. Leaders are also moving forward with plans for a high-speed passenger rail service from Columbus to Atlanta, which could remake the Columbus Airport into a regional hub for low-cost air carriers.

“Recently, the Georgia Department of Transportation has put the Columbus line on its Georgia rail plan and the Federal Railroad Administration has granted Columbus the opportunity to collapse years of environmental review into a single-tier environmental study, which will shave years and millions of dollars off the planning and zoning process for this major transportation opportunity.”

She said Columbus is also tapping into the growing film industry in Georgia and other art opportunities such as Black Art in America, the leading online portal and social network focused on African-American Art; and the Bo Bartlett Center being constructed by Columbus State University.

“Columbus is no longer an off-the-grid, sleepy mill town,” she said. “We are a sophisticated, capable, and dynamic community. As community leaders, we need to fully appreciate that fact or risk minimizing or losing the opportunities all around us.”

She acknowledged the recent defeat of the Thaw the Freeze referendum, saying there are no excuses, but a lot can be learned from the experience.

“For the first time, data was placed on the table that challenges the long-held, but erroneous perception, that the freeze is a benefit to all,” she said. “Indeed, it turns out that it is a benefit to few and a burden to most.”

She said support to change the freeze doubled from 20 percent in prior attempts to 40 percent in the thaw effort. Polling showed that most voters under 55 believe the system is unfair, she continued, and only 19 percent of those under 55 think it’s fair. Those numbers represent the future, she said.

“A disproportionate amount of the electorate will disfavor the freeze as it’s presently constructed,” she said. “We may have missed the opportunity of favorable timing, but we will have the chance to grab other opportunities for a better system in the future. We must keep our eyes open for those, and not shy away from necessary conversations, because those opportunities we cannot lose.”

Tomlinson said the city has learned from its successes and shortfalls, and she encouraged each citizen to participate in moving the city forward.

“We are remaking this city,” she said. “It is happening organically through the ingenuity of our citizens and also through the coordinated design of our partners. This is the era of big, bold, audacious ideas, and we will not get to the future due us by playing small-game ball.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 4:29 PM with the headline "Mayor Teresa Tomlinson in 'audacious' speech: ‘We are remaking this city’."