"Mapping" Fairfield's Future

I attended yesterday’s press conference at Fairfield City Hall conducted by Mayor Brent Maguire. He was brief and plain spoken…

Fairfield no longer has Airtex, He said we have to adjust and do a better job in supporting our existing businesses….and in attracting new jobs.

That is a song out my hymnal.

Maguire is using the state Institute for Rural Affairs to help him craft the “Mapping process.” A local steering committee will listen, prioritize, develop goals and then strategies to achieve the goals.

 So here’s the first test for the Mayor’s plan. It will come in May when the
Atkinson Forest Committee reports out their recommendations to the city council. Maguire will have to take the committee’s ideas….thank them…and put them in the same hopper with all of the other ideas that have been proposed over the last several months.

There are the proponents of a new lake at Lakeside Park…and the folks that believe nothing should be done until the roads in town are addressed. The Mayor himself has advocated using TIF money to lay new water pipes and refurbish the water tower.

Mayor Maguire has chosen a politically shrewd strategy. He’s not going to wade into the swamp. He’s going to let a proven process lead his administration to decisions…for now…and down the road. Then he’s going to recommend them to the city council.

 I think the Mayor is being rational and systematic. ….which means he will have opponents to his plan.  

Not me.