As Canton Mayor Gene Hobgood wound up his “state of the city” speech by beginning to quote Machiavelli, another voice, that of a green, 3-foot Jedi master, echoed in my head.
“Powerful you have become; the dark side I sense in you,” Yoda told Luke Skywalker, the hero who saved the universe in “Star Wars.”
Machiavelli was a 15th century philosopher who is viewed as the creator of modern political science. Today, however, his name has become synonymous with political cunning, deceit and chicanery.
The quote Hobgood used had nothing to do with Machiavellian politics. It was instead an attempt at deflecting those who would criticize Hobgood and the Canton City Council’s future actions:
“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of the new order of things, because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.”
Or, as Yoda might say: “Unlearn what you have learned, you must.”
When he spoke at the Feb. 4 city council work session, Hobgood was actually giving a state of the city since he took office speech. He was also careful to note that his remarks were “in no way intended to open old wounds or lay any blame for the condition of this city two years ago.”
Although Hobgood said he wasn’t pointing fingers, there was, nonetheless, a finger in evidence when he referenced the city having to deal with “surprise commitments.” I took the comment to mean previous deals concocted by former Mayor Cecil Pruett, such as the $1.1 million debt for Reservoir Drive that resurfaced in late 2008.
Hobgood’s disclaimer notwithstanding, and “surprise commitments” aside, the mayor and council deserve kudos for the progress they have made in the past two years, the most notable accomplishment being the fact that Canton currently has a $1 million surplus in its budget’s general fund. And, barring any need to dip into that surplus in the near future, the city anticipates an additional $500,000 by the end of September.
After inheriting a $60 million long-term debt and with the city teetering at the fiscal abyss, Hobgood has earned the right to claim he has helped turn the city around.
Regarding the bigger picture for his city, Hobgood talked about vision, saying that his vision is “not about building skyscrapers but building a community.”
But, Hobgood also cautioned that visions are not realized overnight, but created over time and change comes slowly, in small increments.
During his speech, Hobgood also ticked off several other examples of progress and the vision moving forward, such as:
• rectifying the situation that unfairly had some residents paying for streetlights while others were not;
• hiring a professional city manager;
• creating an “active play” area in Heritage Park until the new park at Brown’s Industrial can be completed; and
• the mixed blessing of Canton Marketplace and having to rectify the traffic issues it has created.
There were also some instances of progress that the mayor left unsaid, such as the retirement of Billy Hasty and the exit of Rob Logan as the chief financial officer. Regardless of what they may or may not have done in the past, when their presence becomes such a distraction for city residents, something needs to change … and it has.
“What really matters now is what do we do next,” Hobgood also told those attending the work session, and I agree with him that the city of Canton has a great future.
But, as Yoda said, “always in motion is the future,” and, as the mayor’s 10-minute speech pointed out, there is still much to do.
There are some changes that still need to be made regarding the way Canton operates.
One priority should be the city’s inability – or complete disregard – for providing records and documents to residents and media making open records requests. In our experience at the Ledger-News, those requests, when they are even acknowledged and fulfilled, are sometimes incomplete.
While we understand that the mess regarding city documents also was inherited, Hobgood’s repeated assertions that the city is dedicated to transparency fall far short of the mark until Canton can rectify the problem to meet the state open records laws.
Another red flag for me regarding the way the city government operates in the future is a seeming heavy-handedness in the way the mayor runs the city council.
A recent example is his refusal to allow Councilwoman Pat Tanner to amend the council agenda to add an item regarding transmitting a document to the state Department of Community Affairs and his pushing a vote on the netting for Heritage Park’s “active play” area.
In the first case, Tanner tried twice to have the vote on the DCA document added to the agenda, both times being rebuffed by Hobgood. In the second case, failure to include the netting item on the agenda caused the council to have to call a special meeting Jan. 7 to ratify the previous improper vote.
I don’t understand the mayor’s insistence in these and other instances of not taking 30 seconds to amend the council agenda, particularly in light of transparency.
It smacks of a power-grab situation, similar to Hobgood telling the council he will entertain this or that motion and laying out the specifics of the motion for the council. That’s about as backwards as Yoda speaks.
It’s true, the city has made some progress under Hobgood’s reign, but to progress further, he should back off the micromanagement style. At the same time, the council needs to be more assertive and accountable to their constituents, checking the mayor’s machinations when necessary instead of passively following his lead.
Hopefully, no one sees the city’s progress as an opportunity to become, um, Machiavellian.
As Yoda said, “Not if anything to say about it I have.”
