Thank you for your support Cooper City!

Thank you for your support Cooper City!

By Commissioner John Sims 

Let me begin by saying THANK YOU to all of the residents and business owners of Cooper City who have supported me for the last twelve plus years! I especially want to thank all of my supporters and the voters who have trusted in me, becoming close friends and neighbors and for allowing me the great opportunity to fill this leadership role for the past twelve years and for standing by me especially through all of the trials, tribulations and successes. I also want to profusely thank all of my closest friends who are too many to mention here along with my wife Janet and my family members for the support and mentorship that they have provided to me over the years. It’s been a fun, and rough ride but worth every second of it!

I am especially proud to have been associated with some of the pillars of our community, the late Gladys Wilson and Walt Jolliff, and many, many others who have stood by my side on the residents’ behalf. They were great mentors and professionals and cared very deeply for our community. I cherish the lasting friendships that I have made both with the residents and with the city’s vendors, and let’s not forget other local elected officials, both currently elected and soon to be elected, many of whom I revere and look forward to for their continued leadership.

Over my tenure on the dais, I have sponsored and supported hundreds of initiatives and local laws that have only supported our residents and business owners. I remember everyone whom I’ve met and everything that I wanted to mention for this article, but unfortunately space doesn’t allow that. I certainly have enjoyed working with so many residents over the years, all of whom have helped me in campaigning, creating literature, websites, blogs, social media pages and supporting me financially. My gratitude and love for all of you will forever be a part of my life, and I will never, ever forget your generosity and dedication! Thank you for your belief in me and your friendship.

We've been involved in some outstanding projects together! I'll always cherish our Senior out-reach program and its extraordinary success.  The drastic increases in feel good spending and tax increases in Cooper City has been a vast financial burden to everyone, especially business owners and fixed income residents. Also, the degradation of truth and the extreme partisan politics in a non-partisan environment in Cooper City politics has produced so much division within our small community. Some in Cooper City politics have even eviscerated the policies and procedures originally designed to protect everyone; minorities, seniors and kids among other vulnerable groups of residents. This must cease immediately and we must move forward and unite together for the betterment of our entire community. But, we can all work hard, hope and pray that tomorrow will be a better day for Cooper City residents and businesses.

As such, I offer a strong apology to my friends, my colleagues on the dais both past and present, the residents and others that I may have offended over the years with my ultra-strong personality and strong stance on certain political and personal issues. I’ve always stood my ground on behalf of the residents, and I’ve certainly said things over the past twelve years that I regret, and I think it’s worthwhile for me to step up and say that I have made mistakes, or that I wish I would have done this or that differently, but what has happened in the past was meant to be.  We have all done things we regret and the lessons learned will be forever engrained in my soul, but I would never change the past for anything.

As I leave the Cooper City dais, I feel like our elected officials have not yet completely lost the war on truth, honesty, camaraderie and doing what’s right on behalf of the residents. It’s never been about right or left with me, it’s always been about right and wrong! In today’s society it's all too easy to lose sight of the most important element in any organization – the person, the people. Us. You and me, as individuals with hearts, minds, and feelings. My future hopes and wishes for Cooper City are simply this: I implore our elected representatives to ignore their personal agendas and always do what is right for the residents of our great city in addition to listening more and paying attention to the residents!

I feel truly honored and grateful to have served on your behalf as a city commissioner for one of the best cities in the USA! Always remember, it’s not too late to alter course for the betterment of our city, Someplace Special! And yes, I’ll be watching very, very closely…

Cooper City Budget and City Manager

The upcoming budget will be a very challenging experience and it will test the commission as to where they are heading on serious issues. Are they going to massively raise your taxes again? Our Budget Workshops are upcoming to set millage rates, debt levy, adoption of initial assessment resolutions and to set times and dates for public budget hearings, all at city hall. Visit CooperCitFL.org for dates and times.

The decisions made during this upcoming budget process are going to be difficult and will affect all residents in an adverse way, and I am doing everything possible to avoid that on your behalf. It’s past time to address the issue of solutions in order to reduce costs, not continuing to promote unnecessary feel good services while continuing to neglect and not improve core services instead of select favorite programs. The likelihood is that your commission majority will massively raise taxes again because this isn’t a primary election year.

One reason I see that the city is such a mess financially is that most career politicians on the dais care far more about keeping their political jobs than about helping you keep yours. My recent challenge to my fellow commissioners is “what’s the tough choice in 2018 that you’re going to make in order to make Cooper City better, more efficient and less costly to run?” You guessed it…no responses by anyone on the commission. Just the typical rhetoric regarding the budget process which doesn’t put more money in your pocket.

I recently motioned to terminate the city manager due to this continuing fiscal incompetence, lack of providing detailed information on agenda items, lack of providing information to residents and appointed board members. You guessed it, no support on your behalf from the political alliance. How unfortunate that those who run the city seem to not care a wit about those who pay their salary.

The city faces immediate tough choices in order to make this next fiscal year a priority to increase services, reduce taxes and improve customer service. My first priority after public safety is creating local jobs and lowering your taxes. Jobs are created here in our city by local business owners, not in Tallahassee or in Washington. This is why we need to elect like-minded residents, so they can save money and create more jobs.

One final note, there are candidates running for Districts 1 and 2 in November 2018, and I'm sure there are more to come. Hopefully you will make the right decision to seat commissioners in Districts 1 and 2 who will always look out for your best interests, not the interests of themselves and their political future or those who are political hacks of those on the commission.

To those of you that are concerned about what this commission wants to do regarding this upcoming budget process, please forward your concerns to me. I will voice them but I can assure you, they may be ignored if it puts money in your pocket.