From the desk of Eric Neal – Introduction

December 8, 2016

Table of Contents

For quite some time I have considered the idea of writing a blog about the city from the perspective of a current City Commissioner.

One thing that I have learned in the last two years of being your mayor is that a lot of what we do in city government is either so boring that people don’t pay much attention to it or it is misconstrued by individuals or media outlets with hidden agendas . Either way, most people do not have a clear understanding of what goes on with regards to our City Commission and the process that goes into making decisions that impact thousands of people’s daily lives.

This blog will be one more way that I can be transparent about who the Commissioners are and what we do to serve you. In a culture where elected officials on the national stage are identified primarily by their political party affiliation and are assumed to have some sort of hidden agenda, it is easy to paint all elected officials with a broad brush as being just “politicians”. It has been my experience that on the local level this is usually a mischaracterization.

First we all must realize that as sitting City Commissioners, each of us serves on a completely voluntary basis and we aren’t professional politicians.

We are your former and current teachers, we are your former teammates and stars of the local grid-iron or hardwood, we are your next door neighbors, our children are in scouts with yours, we sit next to you on the pews on Sunday, eat at the same restaurants, shop at the same grocery stores, we live life with you. Each of us campaigned to serve because we love this town and we receive no financial compensation to serve on the Commission. In fact most of us personally paid for portions of our campaigns out of pocket and take vacation time from our employers and most time without our families to be able to participate in many things City Commission related.

Each of us are dedicated to the City of Marshall and its well-being. Each of us have a vested interest in making Marshall a better place now and for the future. Most would probably question the rationale behind this, but I would say that the answer is clear; we have a group of people that truly want to see Marshall better. A group of people that are passionate about this town and its future. It has truly been my pleasure to work with this commission for the last two years and I look forward to continuing that work. We have accomplished a lot, but we still have a lot more to accomplish.

This first blog is not intended to address any specific issues but rather to set the tone of the future of this blog. I am not writing this blog to stir controversy or compete with other media sources, but rather to offer a perspective and an overall insight from someone serving on the Commission.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and it is my hope that each of you continue to read my blogs moving forward and stay informed as to the happenings of the City.

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