The weekly Sonoran News hit piece asserts the preposterous notion that proposing new policies is not the job of elected council people but rather that of the Town Manager. This latest attempt at demonization may be my favorite one yet, as it lambasts me for working with staff (albeit with the Manager’s knowledge) to draft and propose policy changes. The sadness is Sorchcyh and his followers believe the modus operandi for a council should be to (and in fact they supported an administration who did) rubber stamp policy unilaterally dictated by the manager.
Among the whole previous council only a SINGLE agenda item was proposed during the entire last TERM. This fact would be funny if it was not so tragic, having resulted in: a bloated budget, approx. $60Million dollars in municipal debt, selective enforcement of ordinances, outrageous deferred maintenance on newly constructed infrastructure, no accountability within Town Hall, no cohesive economic development strategy, five years of stagnation on securing the annexed open space, etc. . .
The new council has worked hard to address these issues and made progress. It seems the first budget this council will draft is going to be more than $1,000,000.00 less than the one adopted last year, this year’s cost neutral promotions have sales tax revenues up by more than ten percent throughout the town, several ordinances have been revised or repealed to ensure equal enforcement, new criteria raising the bar for the rezoning of desert rural lands has been adopted to protect our lifestyle, the council has dedicated money for the acquisition of the open space and started a dialogue with the State Land Commissioner on that topic, we have given the people of Cave Creek access to its government by broadcasting meetings online and opening up weekly office hours with the Mayor and Vice Mayor, and we have identified and worked to rectify numerous deferred maintenance issues concerning roads water systems and waste water treatment! There is more but it is too much to list, meaning this administration is more proactive, more efficient, more transparent than the last, and results are tangible.
Unfortunately the citizens don’t read about it in the local paper. The self proclaimed “watch dog” openly yearns for the olden days of malfeasance and makes up the most ridiculous lies. “Trenk doesn’t live in Cave Creek”, “the Town does not answer public records requests”, “Trenk is facing a bar complaint”, “Trenk usurps Manager’s Power”, “The Council abandoned the trails”, blah blah blah. . . WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE?
You cannot help but wonder if these polarizing fictions are not fueled by my colleagues and I shutting off the flow of tax payer money the Sonoran News used to see for unnecessary and overpriced public announcements, or if its just personal? Considering this nonsense predates the cessation of the Sonoran News taxpayer “subsidies”, I suspect its personal. Regardless, doesn’t Cave Creek deserve a higher class of journalism? Before you do business with a Sonoran News advertiser, ask yourself “Would Cave Creek be better off if it could depend on honest reporting?”
Adam Trenk