Mayor Mike Houston took the oath of office almost a year ago, vowing that change was coming to the city of Springfield. But many aldermen say Houston’s first year has been filled with more challenges, problems and unfulfilled campaign promises than change. Houston promised an infrastructure plan within his first month. Still nothing. He made a bold assurance that one of the first things he’d do if elected was eliminate what he called 40 “do-nothing” jobs at City Water, Light and Power. Instead, months after taking office, he hired a consultant to recommend job cuts. He vowed that 25 percent of the new police officers and firefighters hired during his administration would be minorities. He says he has since been told by his top city attorney that it would be illegal to pick and choose from one hiring list.
Sitting inside his third-floor office last week, Houston was asked if he promised too much too soon during his campaign. He responded that his administration is making progress. “I never said that you’re going to walk in and do things overnight,” he said. “Everything is going to take time. The problems that we are dealing with today were not created overnight. You’re not going to solve them overnight. “I think we make progress every day, and that’s the thing that keeps me going and excited about what we’re doing,” Houston said.
City finances better off
Many aldermen say Houston’s biggest accomplishment in his first year has been to improve the city’s financial situation. The city ended fiscal 2012 on Feb. 29 with a $3 million budget surplus, of which $1.9 million was used to pay off old debt. The city’s average daily cash balance increased from negative $3.5 million during fiscal 2011 to $700,000 in fiscal 2012.
Houston, a 68-year-old former banker who served two terms as mayor from 1979 to 1987, said he found the city’s financial situation in much worse shape than he expected. He credited his management team, which includes one of the people he ran against – budget director Bill McCarty — for controlling spending.
“We’re getting our financial house under control and really bringing it to a point where I’m confident we can turn the situation around,” Houston said. “I really believe that by the end of a four-year period of time, we’ll be on good, firm financial ground, which … given the situation we had walking in, I think is doing something.”
The changes
In the last year, Lincoln Library has been reopened on Sundays during the school year, the length of the fall and spring yard waste collection was doubled to four weeks instead of two, and each city council and committee meeting is being broadcast live, instead of only council meetings. The mayor’s spending plan, which went into effect March 1, also calls for repaying old debts and setting aside more money to fix roads and sidewalks and to buy new equipment for the police, fire and public works departments.
A $40,000-plus study by Maximus Consulting Services recommended eliminating a total of 82 jobs, including 32 at CWLP and 22 in the Department of Public Works. Instead, the mayor got rid of 23 positions.
In all, Houston says he has reduced the number of city employees by 46 between his inauguration last April and Feb. 29. But he also has hired 59 people, including a class of 20 new firefighters and seven new police officers. Of the 59, 78 percent are white men. Eight women, three black men and two Hispanic men also are among the hires.
Property violators
Houston campaigned on the need for better enforcement of the city’s building codes and vowed to “take back our neighborhoods, one abandoned property at a time.” The city has taken on the owners of two longtime problem properties — the MacArthur Park apartments and the Bel-Aire Motel, the latter of which was recently fined $141,000 for hundreds of alleged violations.
Aldermen and the mayor also passed an ordinance toughening the city’s rules on boarded-up buildings. It calls for hefty fines for violations, limits the time buildings can be boarded up to three years and allows the city to foreclose on abandoned and boarded-up properties.
Lessons learned
In his first month, he took heat for offering to pay Mark Mahoney, Houston’s pick for public works director, more than the prior public works director. He later agreed to pay Mahoney the same salary. His first choice for corporation counsel, Thomas Kelty, withdrew his name from consideration amid questions about his record of financial difficulty and professional turmoil.
But the biggest lesson, Houston said, came during the recent debate over a CWLP electric rate hike. Houston pushed for the increase, saying it was necessary to ensure the financial health of the city-owned utility. He originally requested a 9.5 percent increase this year, with smaller annual rate hikes each year thereafter.
Aldermen rejected the initial proposal, but eventually approved a 4.75 percent rate hike for this year and 2 percent next year, in addition to other cuts at CWLP. Top utility officials and the mayor said the utility didn’t have enough cash to meet its bond-coverage requirements.
What’s next?
Houston said he has a report on a proposed infrastructure plan for the city that he is reviewing, and “I anticipate moving forward here in the relatively near future.” Also on the horizon are a consultant’s recommendation to consolidate the city’s four maintenance garages and plans to create another tax increment financing district near J.C. Penney on Springfield’s east side.
The city also will face more challenges, including high-speed rail consolidation, the possible closure of the postal processing center on Cook Street and the expected downgrading of CWLP’s bond rating.
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Mayor criticized for communication
Nearly all Springfield aldermen say Mayor Mike Houston could do a better job of communicating. Aldermen expressed frustration about being kept in the dark on a number of issues in the last year — from an electric rate hike to Houston’s hiring of former aide Bob Braasch to a $95,004-a-year management position at City Water, Light and Power shortly after asking for the rate hike. Often, some aldermen said, they have learned about issues from the media first.
Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin described Houston as “distant and secretive with the council,” but “usually well-intentioned.” Ward 2 Ald. Gail Simpson said she believes Houston hasn’t adjusted to aldermanic government. Houston’s first two terms as mayor, from 1979 to 1987, took place when Springfield employed the commission form of government. There were no aldermen then.
Asked to grade Houston’s first-year performance, half of the city council gave him a C or C-minus. Overall, the grades ranged from A to incomplete. Houston is mostly criticized for his lack of communication with aldermen and for failing to follow through on campaign promises, such as developing an infrastructure plan.
“I think overall he was elected because he knew the system, he knew we had a financial crisis, and he has had 28-plus years of managerial experience in the private sector,” said Ward 6 Ald. Cory Jobe. “That’s what he campaigned on. … I think he’s a good manager, but we also need someone who is a good communicator. Communication can either help you or hurt you. It’s critical.”
Houston said he can understand aldermen’s concerns, but communication is a “two-way street.” “We tried to run a very, very open, transparent type of operation,” Houston said, pointing to his monthly “Meet the Mayor” sessions and radio interviews. “Could I do better job of communication? I’m certain that I could do that. Could members of the council do a better job of communicating? I’m sure that’s the case also.”
Ward 9 Ald. Steven Dove said it was difficult to get the mayor to work with the council. “I hope things come around,” Dove said. “The only way to get the city moving forward is to have everybody on a similar page and have a similar goal in mind. I think people have the same goals in mind, but are not necessarily on the same page.”
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One-term mayor
During his campaign for mayor, Mike Houston pledged to serve only one four-year term. Last week, he stood by that promise. “I have no plans to seek a second term,” Houston told WFMB-AM’s Sam Madonia. “I try to do what I believe is right,” he said. “I would much rather be able to deal with that type of attitude than to worry about running for re-election or what’s going to happen.”
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Campaign promises vs. what’s been done
* Infrastructure plan: Houston said he would produce a plan within 30 days of taking office. Later said it wasn’t an infrastructure plan, but a financing plan. Promised it would be unveiled after the city’s budget was passed at end of February. Still no plan.
* Eliminate 40 “do-nothing” City Water, Light and Power jobs: Promised immediate dismissal of employees, specifically at CWLP. Later, hired a consultant to make recommended cuts, but not all the recommendations were implemented.
* Get tough on code enforcement: Suggested hiring two new assistant city attorneys to specialize in code enforcement. Two new attorneys were hired in July — Steven Rahn and Crista Appenzeller.
* The city budget: Said he would redo the city’s budget within 30 days of taking office. He ordered a total of $1.2 million to be set aside in reserve funds.
* Increase diversity among city employees: Said 25 percent of new police and firefighter hires would be minorities until they made up 15 percent of each department’s workforce. Later said he learned that the city couldn’t adopt an approach similar to one the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office is taking. During Houston’s first year in office, 59 employees were hired. Five are black or Hispanic.
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Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 