Serving for over four years on the Carmel Planning Commission, working diligently on your behalf to protect the unique character of our Village, has been an honor. It has given me an excellent perspective into the inner workings of our local government, seeing what works and what could be improved.
Over the past 45 years, I have developed strong leadership and problem-solving skills as a senior corporate executive, consultant, and founder of several companies. I once served as mayor of a small town in Colorado quite like Carmel, leading it through turbulent times and winning reelection with 89% of the vote in a contested election. Our team there created an outcome oriented, “glad to be of service” culture and developed an actionable long-range strategy and supporting financial plan.
As your City Council representative, I commit to being engaged, collaborative, and always prepared. City staff will receive supportive strategic leadership and rigorous financial oversight. Listening to and representing the interests of our citizens and remaining free of personal agendas and/or conflicts of interest is paramount. With deep financial management and planning skills and a life-long track record of effective, positive, results-based leadership, I believe I have the skills that can help our city deal with an ever-growing list of serious challenges.
Less is often more, common sense should be more common, and if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
I have four pillars to my campaign.
- Fiscal Discipline and Long-Range Planning. The annual budget authorizes City Staff to collect revenue and to spend our money. It is our City Council’s most powerful tool to direct and control the actions of our government. Before approving it, our elected officials must “own “it by understanding it front to back and top to bottom. City Staff must be challenged to justify all spending, while demonstrating cost effectiveness, efficiency, customer service, and accountability. And we must understand how next year’s budget fits into a realistic long-term financial plan. We need a City Council with the financial acumen to deliver fiscal discipline. I have these skills.
- Transparency. Our citizens deserve to be fully informed. Good leaders always share the whole story and provide strong rationale for their decisions. We need elected officials who take the time to thoroughly understand a topic and then take even more time to explain it in a way that lets our citizens know they have been heard. I have these skills.
- Community Engagement. In public service, listening is everything. Our elected officials must be available and present. They need to ask questions, then listen, and then listen some more. Talking is not listening. Personal agendas are unhelpful distractions. I believe my 4 years on the Planning Commission have demonstrated that I am an active and thorough listener who takes the time to understand all perspectives on an issue before making a decision.
- Local Control. Our state and federal governments are usurping our local control. We need elected officials who push back. As a Planning Commissioner, I listened to citizens concerned about the potential proliferation of cellular facilities in our Village. I worked diligently to ensure we passed the most restrictive Wireless Ordinance possible, despite claims by many about the omnipotence of the FCC in such matters. More recently, we’ve seen our City Council approve a Housing Plan that was clearly influenced by the heavy hand of our State Government. The best government is local government, and we need to protect it. I’ll fight for that.
I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible in the coming months. Please feel free to contact me by email at bob@bobdelvesforcarmel.com, by phone at 831-293-8776 (home) or 970-708-4047 (mobile) to schedule a time to get better acquainted.