Bruce W. Brown, Who am I?
As of the first Monday of May, I am your mayor in Garretson. I want to give you a little background on me.
I was born across the border in Iowa, went to college at South Dakota State University and graduated with a degree in Pharmacy. I worked at Davis Drug in Vermillion for 2 years after graduation and then left the state to take a job with Eli Lilly and Company. I moved back to South Dakota about 7 years later and have lived here most of my adult life. I lived west of Valley Springs for 30 years. I moved to Garretson about 9 years ago and fell in love with this great town. I became involved with many projects and activities in the community. I work at the food bank, and I am the President of the Garretson Historical Society and Museum.
I started attending city council meeting very shortly after I moved here and have been active as a citizen with city government (I really wish more of you would get involved or at least attend council meetings- your input is welcome!). I ran for mayor when Greg Beaner and Tom Godby were running. Greg won the election and has served the city very well and has many accomplishments to his credit. Greg encouraged me to run for city council and after a couple of tries, I won a seat and was reelected last year. (Well no one ran against me so I won.)
Greg is assuming new responsibilities at his job and has chosen not to run again. He encouraged me to run and after some prodding I did. Since no one ran against me I won by default.
While I am on that subject just let me vent a little. We are a small town and have some great potential for growth that would benefit us all. It concerns me when no one runs for a council seat and the mayor has to appoint someone to fill that seat. This is just plain wrong, if you are a citizen of this town you have a civic duty to serve, in one way or another! You will be hearing more about this from me over the next 2 years.
So what about my future as mayor?
I believe in public service, helping those who need a hand up, in law and order, and in controlled growth of Garretson. So let me start with public service, I grew up in a town of 8000 people in Iowa. I was a Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Eagle Scout and an Explorer Scout. All of these taught me good behavior and strong dedication to helping others and public service. I am further obliged by my faith in God, to offer my hand and help to anyone who needs it.
I believe in law and order. As a society we either have to make and enforce laws or allow individuals to prey upon others and hurt the community. I was active on the council to encourage more patrols and activity of the Sheriff's department, who provide law enforcement services to our community. I will continue to work with them to enforce our laws. I will also work with and encourage our compliance officer to enforce our city ordinances. (You will see more about this in my monthly updates.) These ordinances were designed to make life better and safer for citizens, as well as keeping our community clean. If you have questions about our ordinances, you can read them at city hall and will be able to access them on our web site and App shortly. If you object to an ordinance as a citizen you have the right to question it and appear before the council to have it changed or amended. That is part of the democratic system. I am a strong believer in the process. If you don't like something, work to change or modify it. I will warn you upfront that my mother taught me that it is perfectly acceptable to question a rule or decision, but be prepared with a better solution to the problem, just complaining will get you nowhere with me.
The last thing I am going to address at this point is the growth of Garretson. In the past 20 years Garretson has seen a loss of businesses and families. This has a huge effect on our school system funding. (I am not a fan of opt outs, but it was necessary as a stop gap measure.) The population loss has a negative effect on attracting new families and businesses to our community. We have a beautiful community with some great businesses and people should be standing in line to move here! Some are. The problem in the past has been availability of housing. While there are houses being built, we have shortage of affordable housing. Greg and the council have worked to fix this issue. The land purchased on south Main Street will help drive the housing expansion and help make housing available and affordable here. It is an expensive and slow process but it will be one of my priorities.
As I close I also want you to know I am always happy to talk with anyone. Those of you who know me, as you know, I walk my dog Star morning and evening, 365. Stop me anytime, give her a pet and talk to me. I am also going to maintain office hours at city hall. You can come in Monday and Tuesday mornings (maybe more depending on my schedule) from 8 until 11 and talk, one on one, privately and confidentially. You may make an appointment with Paetyn if you want to lock in a time. I am also planning on a monthly update to be published in the Gazette, on our website and App. This will include what projects are going on and reminders about upcoming events as well as education on ordinances and such.
I am very much looking forward to working with all of you to make Garretson a better place!
-Bruce W Brown RPh, Mayor
Garretson, SD 57030
