82°F
weather icon Clear

City ready to embrace businesses, help citizens

At the conclusion of my recent State of the City address, I gave my mayor's vision for the immediate future of Boulder City. My vision included five elements: family and faith first; being business friendly; crystal clear communication; keeping our financial house in order; and picking up the pace.

As part of the third element, I challenged the city to be more efficient, effective and proactive communicators. And I asked the Boulder City Review to help us, since our citizens deserve better information about what's happening in local government. Editor Hali Bernstein Saylor promptly responded with the gracious offer to have me write a monthly column. So, thank you, Hali, for this opportunity.

I'll probably address crystal clear communication in the near future, but today I want to focus on being business friendly.

A wise person once said, "You can sheer a sheep a thousand times, but you can only skin it once." Businesses are an awful lot like sheep in that way.

If representatives of a prospective business are interested in coming to Boulder City and we treat them like they're outsiders, like we're doing them a favor, placing unwieldy conditions and legal roadblocks in their way, exacting up front every dollar and every offsite improvement we can get out of them, using language that belittles their efforts or suggests that we're right and they're wrong, then it probably won't surprise you that they're going to be very inclined to take their business elsewhere.

And even if they take the risk and stay, they're not going to keep giving back to us. If we skin them alive, what do we expect? They won't be successful and won't have the ability to give back even if they want to.

On the other hand, if we treat them like partners, like teammates, like friends and fellow citizens, giving them the benefit of every doubt, talking to them with respect, listening with empathy to their concerns, focusing on solutions rather than problems, and, yes, even asking them to participate financially with us in long-term, mutually beneficial, win-win ways, then it also won't surprise you that they're going to be anxious to call Boulder City home and to do everything in their power to become a fixture here that keeps giving back to us over, and over, and over again for years to come.

And, of course, the same is true of existing businesses.

So, in case it's not clear, my message to my fellow council members and to city staff is this: If and to the extent that the slaughterhouse is still open, we need to close it today. And replace it with a barber shop. The butcher mentality has to cease now.

We need to eliminate the attitude that we're doing businesses, nonprofits, and the citizens of Boulder City a favor.

Ours is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." The government isn't the City Council, or city staff, or the police, or any other public officials. It's "we the people." So let's treat people like it's their government, not ours.

Furthermore, laws were made for us, not the other way around. They're there to help us succeed, not to impede our progress. So let's view them that way.

That will require a big paradigm shift. It means changing our vocabulary, avoiding the words "no" and "can't" and replacing them with "yes" and "can do." Sometimes a qualified "yes, if" or "yes, but." But still a resounding "yes."

It means embracing the mentality that the customer is always right (even if technically wrong). It means we're here to serve our customers, not the other way around. It means we provide options, solutions and assistance, not obstacles. It means becoming problem solvers, not problem makers. And it means we firmly believe that we're community partners.

Those are just a few thoughts from my State of the City address. But I hope everyone senses how serious this issue is to me.

If you're interested in viewing my entire vision statement, please visit www.bcnv.org. And I'm always interested in hearing from you about potential topics for future columns. It's a great honor to serve as your mayor, and my door is always open.

Rod Woodbury is mayor of Boulder City. He has been serving on the City Council since 2011 and is the president and managing shareholder of his law firm, Woodbury Law.

MOST READ
LISTEN TO THE TOP FIVE HERE
THE LATEST
Dispelling the myths of organ donation

Long before I was mayor of Boulder City, before I was a state legislator, I started a long, rewarding career as a physician. Two of the hardest things about being a doctor is, 1) telling someone that their loved one has died, and 2) sharing news about critical, potentially-fatal conditions.

Drive-in theaters: A dying form of entertainment

The other day I saw something on how few movie drive-ins there are these days and it got me thinking about my memories of drive-ins.

Sleeping in cars, helping homeless veterans

If you are a homeless veteran, would you care to sleep in an abandoned automobile, in an old vehicle with no heat or A/C?

Wouldn’t it be nice?

So the other day, Ron and I were talking about death.

Lest we forget

Over the last 200 years, life expectancy worldwide has nearly doubled. Today, many live well into their 80s or 90s and beyond.

The bumpy road to compromise

Ever since I can remember, parking in our business district has been a topic for conversation in Boulder City.

Your love from relations and relationships

How is it that humanity is becoming lonelier while the population of the planet is rapidly rising beyond eight billion people? We are talking with each other less in person, demonstrating love with our presence. Our hearts stir when we are with those we love, don’t they?

BC knows how to honor its students

For the third time since being back in Boulder City, I got to attend and cover the high school graduation.

Was that a cow that just flew by?

I had intentions of writing this month about my goal these past 18 months of gathering experiences as opposed to material things, especially as I get older.