A THANK YOU FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER, BILL BISHOP

[FCTP]

We received the following Thank You from Bill Bishop, a member of the City Council. We wanted to share this with you since you are the ones who made the effort to show up and voice your concerns. The next City Council Meeting is NEXT TUESDAY, Oct 12 at 5:00 p.m. Please contact your City Council Member between now and then and ask him/her what is on the agenda and listen intently to how they are going to vote. One big item is putting Ethics back into the City Charter. (Now we know what happened to our city...they took Ethics out!)

Keep the pressure on and do what you can to remain vigilant about spending and special incentives for buddies that happen at all levels of government.

Here's the link to contact your City Council member. Be there next week if you can and the next and the next and the next. http://www.coj.net/City+Council/default.htm

FROM BILL BISHOP...

Billie: I would like to thank all of the FCTP members that voiced their opinion over the past few months about the new budget and that came to the city council meeting last week during the budget debate. While I was not pleased with the outcome I am very happy that so many people got involved. My hope is that this involvement continues through the next election cycle and beyond. This is extremely important if we are to improve how our city operates and if we are to get our fiscal house in order. Attached is an op/ed piece I have written outlining my thoughts on the current state of budgetary affairs and possible ways to make progress going forward. I would appreciate any comments from you and the members.

City Budget Article.doc

Thank you,

Bill

William H. Bishop, III, AIA

Council Member, District 2

[FCTP]

CAN I SAY: ED MALIN FOR MAYOR!!!

[Joe Strange]

Kind of "off topic" but, did I hear correct.....St. Johns county is "LOWERING" it's property taxes?

[Ed Malin]

Mr. Bishop, I volunteer to be the outside auditor. I will gladly donate my time and skills as a business professional to go over all 1,600 pages of the city budget and trim it down. I won't charge the city a dime. Call me anytime. Ed Malin Angie's Subs

[Valerie Sawyer]

What a nice change! Officials writing us instead of us writing them! I call this progress.

[Beth Korey]

Great that he acknowledged the response from FCTP reps. It is always good to let our officials know
that someone is looking over their shoulder and the people that pay their salary are standing up and
demanding accountability. Good job everyone.