Local Video
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| DeLong: It’s time to get processes of city in place |
By: SUZANNE ROOK, Senior Reporter
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Posted: Wednesday, August 6, 2008 1:10 am
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Editor’s Note — This story is part of a continuing series featuring candidates for Northfield City Council.
NORTHFIELD — Call David DeLong what you will. Blunt. Outspoken. Detail-oriented.
Though the longtime Northfielder is known for calling things as he sees them, he says he has no ulterior motive for being frank.
David DeLong
Age — 52
Family — one son; parents, Orrin and Jean DeLong
Education — Northfield High School, associate’s from Dakota County Vocational and Technical School
Occupation — works for Bon Appetit, a contract food service for Carleton College |
DeLong, 52, who served two prior terms on city council, says he’d like the council to look at other perspectives; to understand the details before making decisions.
After nearly six years away, DeLong came back to City Hall in 2007 to add his two cents about the East Woodley Street reconstruction. But when the project moved back and forth, with city staff twice believing the project had been approved only to realize it hadn’t, DeLong decided there were problems with the process.
If elected, getting consistent processes in place, no matter the size of the project, will be one of his goals, he said.
DeLong, who says he’s a fiscal conservative, said he’d like the council to stop playing “sandbox politics,” and cut out the petty personal digs, and wants council meetings to run more smoothly.
His long-term goals include reducing wasteful spending, which includes cutting back on the hiring of consultants and council members’ travel to out-of-state conferences. The council should deny cost overruns when consultants don’t deliver on their promises, he said, noting a $32,000 increase it approved last month for the firm assisting with the city’s comprehensive plan.
When it comes to hiring the city’s next administrator, DeLong wants the council to think outside the box. Instead of looking only at those with administrative experience or degrees, the city should look at managers in the private sector or with military experience.
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Whatever the city does, DeLong believes the next administrator needs to be someone who plans to stay in Northfield, and isn’t someone only interested, he said, “in fluffing his resume for the next town.”
He’d also like the council to consider curbside composting and ask Waste Management to institute a process where users pay by the pound for trash collection. Benefits, he said would be more recycling and users pay only for what they discard.
— Suzanne Rook can be reached at srook@northfieldnews.com or 645-1113.
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