Time to pick a new mayor!

In a little more than a week, Park City citizens will pick a new mayor and two new city council members. The bigger contest though, is about who will become our little-town mayor (8,000 people) for the next 4 years.

This is mostly a honorific and goal-setting position, as the day-to-day city management is left to a professional. Dana Williams, 62 years of age, one of the two contestants, has been mayor for three-terms or 12 years, and after taken a break for the past 4 years, wants to return, thinking he's still the best and is badly needed.

Andy Beerman, his opponent, is currently a city council member and doesn't offer a program that is drastically different than Williams', but his biggest assets over the previous mayor are his age (48 years old) and his rather successful forays in various local businesses that stand in stark contrast with Williams' mediocre professional record.

I have worked alongside Williams during a brief period and wasn't impressed at all. He basks in what he believes are his past “achievements”, talks a much better story than he's able to walk it, and as he said when he entered the race, is doing so essentially because the job now pays better than during the dozen of year he was at the helm ($50,000 per year).

My take on all this is that Dana Williams had his days in the sun and we're now ready for some lots of new ideas, refreshing directions and much energetic blood!