government NEWS & VIEWS FROM THE MAYOR Each month Douglasville’s Mayor, Rochelle Robinson writes a column about a subject which is of interest to many residents of Douglasville, and Douglas County. The city of Douglasville’s website is: www.ci.douglasville.ga.us. I would like to start my first Mayor’s column with the Chapel Hill News & Views by saying thank you to the citizens of Douglasville for entrusting me to serve as your Mayor for the next four years. Those who voted for me are expect- ing changes to the City government by bringing a spirit of cooperation with our County brethren, cooperation and a team spirit amongst the City’s elected officials, and an overall spirit of openness and cooperation with you, the citizens of Douglasville. I recognize that I did not earn 100% of the vote of the citizens of Douglasville; however, to those whom I did not receive your vote; I will work hard for you to help build a community that makes us all proud. and priorities for 2016. You can also expect to see me meeting with our ex- ternal partners like the Georgia Municipal Association, the Atlanta Regional Commission and others to ensure Douglasville’s voice is heard on a regional and state level. I will bring home legislative priorities that may affect us lo- cally and discuss those with my fellow elected officials to make certain we are protecting our local interests. The first few weeks of my administration have been busy getting a full understanding of the City’s operations and getting to know my fellow elect- ed officials. I believe strongly in team building. One of my missions as Mayor is to ensure that I listen and respect the concerns of each of the elected of- ficials and try to help each of us work collectively for the betterment of the community as a whole. In closing, I’d like to express what a privilege it is to serve. This has been a very humbling experience. The onboarding process was an excit- ing whirlwind! Working with City Manager Marcia Hampton, Police Chief Gary Sparks and all of the dedicated employees of the city government has been a pleasure. We have a lot of work ahead. I am up for the challenge. My family and I are excited about this opportunity to serve the community. I am committed to working for you and with you on building a better Doug- lasville. Looking ahead citizens can expect to see the elected officials participate in a planning retreat where we will come together to develop a unified vision Closer to home, I feel very strongly we need to have a close partnership with the Douglas County government. Just like family we may not always agree, but I believe we will have a much better relationship moving forward than we have displayed in the past. The citizens of the entire county prosper when their local governments work together. Throughout my administration you can expect to see me working very closely with Chairman Worthan on issues that affect our citizens. Both the Chairman and I are committed to working together. Senator David Perdue: Reflecting On My First Year In The Senate Almost a year ago, I stood next to my wife Bonnie, put my hand on my Father’s Bible, and swore to uphold the Constitution and repre- sent the people of Georgia in the United States Senate. This is a role I never imagined, but one I take very seriously. To emphasize the magnitude of this re- sponsibility, I held my first staff meeting at the National Archives—home of the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitu- tion, and the Bill of Rights. We reflected deeply on the role of our federal government and the need to hold it accountable to the people we represent. I came to the Senate with a sense of ur- gency to make a difference. In my first weeks, I sponsored three bills that would help put in place a system that is more representative of Georgia’s priorities, including a constitutional amendment to balance the budget, a Fair Tax system, and term limits legislation. But as a businessman with no political experience, it immediately became clear to me that Wash- ington’s budget process is broken. It has only worked four times in the last forty years. In the real world, this would have been fixed long ago. Clearly, we simply have to get our nation’s finances in order to ensure our economic se- curity, but also to protect American leadership and guarantee our country’s security. The United States must have the financial resources available to invest in a strong military, support our allies, and secure our nation from foreign threats. As a member of both the Senate Budget and Foreign Relations Committees, I am in a unique position to help change the direction of our country. My goal is to continue to work to focus Washington on solving these two deeply interconnected crises for our kids and grand- kids. Earlier this year, the Budget Committee produced a conservative budget that cut $7 trillion from the President’s ten-year budget and paved the way to repeal Obamacare and send this repeal to the President’s desk. Unfor- tunately, Washington ultimately fell into its old ways and abandoned this budget, just as it has done 36 times out of the last 40 years. Reform- ing this broken budget process is just one step we must take to get our country back on track. Additionally, from my seat on the Foreign Relations Committee, we focused much of this year on stopping further nuclear proliferation and completing the first State Department au- thorization since 2002. The absence of global leadership from the United States has led many of our allies to question our financial and mili- tary commitments and invoked doubt in our ability to defeat terrorism once and for all. Looking forward, my goal is to get Wash- ington to adopt a more holistic approach to fixing the underlying drivers of our debt and addressing these global security challenges. Georgians and Americans cannot afford an- other 12 months of inaction on these issues in Washington, which has created a dangerous power vacuum at home and around the world. Government WWW.NEWSANDVIEWSUSA.COM | 45