What was I thinking? Why would anyone want to get involved in city politics, and why would they agree to write an article for the local newspaper after being involved for one year? Well, I guess I’m now old enough that I can partially lay the blame to the onset of senility.
I was approached by a number of people about a year and a half ago who suggested I should get involved and run for City Council. I thought about it briefly and made my decision to run (perhaps a bit too hastily!) and although I never felt I would be elected, miracles do happen. In hindsight, it probably all comes down to the fact my name is Aiken and I was the first person on the ballot. Why wasn’t I born into the Zimmerman family so no one would have gotten far enough down the list to even consider me? I should have gotten suspicious after I was elected and the same people who suggested I run now couldn’t believe that I had.
Oh well, too late to back out now. I sat down to think about what I had done. I asked myself “how hard can this be”? I’ve run companies with budgets in excess of $250 million. Caribou’s budget is only about $10 million. This is going to be a walk in the park. I forgot a lesson I had learned many years earlier. Never underestimate the task in front of you.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that making decisions regarding city policies and city spending was a little different than making those same decisions in private industry. In the private sector I only had to satisfy basically one person, the owner of the company, and his goal was quite simple — make money. I did and everybody was happy. Now I’m trying to satisfy over 8,000 people for whom I am working, and I have already determined that “it ain’t going to happen.” It appears everybody has wishes that are polar opposites. One person wants more things for the kids to do while the next one feels the city should only offer the essential services. Another person wants to know when we will be building the new indoor pool while the next one thinks we should close down the existing pool. The list goes on and on. The only thing everyone seems to agree on; are you ready for this? They really don’t want to pay any more taxes.
It was so much easier sitting on the outside and criticizing the city’s operation and employees for wasting my tax dollars, and it certainly didn’t take long once I was elected for people to start telling me everything that was wrong with the city and everything the city should be doing that they aren’t doing now. I quickly realized once on council, that my past criticism was based on the information I had at the time, and now I had access to additional information. Again, in hindsight, all this information was available to me in the past, but like most citizens, I never took the time to go to City Hall and get it. If I would have gotten the information I probably wouldn’t have been able to be so critical and that would have been no fun at all.
I think if we, as citizens, spent as much time concentrating on and talking about the positive aspects of living here rather than the negative things, we would all be happier and enjoy life a lot more. My wife and I have moved 13 times since we were married and have lived in many different communities from coast to coast, both in Canada and the United States. Some of those communities were successful and expanding; others, not so much. Some of it had to do with the economy at the time, but the common denominator in the places that were growing, regardless of the economy, was that their citizens had a positive attitude.
Every business, regardless of what type or how many people they employ, was considered another step forward for the community. Will we ever see the Ford Motor Company build a plant in Caribou? Probably not, but the opportunity for retail business and even some small manufacturing companies whose proximity to the larger market places is not a critical factor, will always be a possibility.
I think I am starting to see signs of an attitude change for the better in Caribou. The Chamber of Commerce recently appointed a new director, William Tasker, who seems determined to make Caribou a better place in which to do business. When push came to shove, the city planning board, which has been trying to fill the vacancies on their board for many months, ended up with 14 applicants, all of whom are capable of filling these positions, and based on their qualifications, probably most of them are a lot smarter than I am. Hopefully some of them will take the next step and run for city council in the future.
As I stated earlier, Barb and I have moved 13 times in the past 42 years. We have lived in Caribou for 14 years now and are planning on staying here. We have always spent a good deal of time trying to make our community a better place in which to live for everyone. I hope all of our citizens will make this their goal as well as we move forward. When you get up tomorrow morning, ask yourself this question: “What can I do today to make Caribou a better place in which to live and raise a family?”
Gary Aiken is mayor of Caribou. He can be reached at 498-4267 or via e-mail at garyaiken@hotmail.com.
