Pledges & Goals

As County Commissioner, there are pledges I can make for myself, and goals that require the support of others. In both cases, I expect to be held to the highest standards of integrity and achievement.

Tom's Pledges:

• I will be honest, ethical and fair. I will not enrich myself or anyone else at the expense of County residents.

• I will not be involved in any for-profit business related to the County or City during my term(s) and for at least 2 years after last serving on the Commission.

• I will exceed the requirements of all NM Public Official disclosure laws. I will meet the same standards as the Governor, as well as post State & Federal tax returns.

• I will be accessible to all residents, listen and carefully weigh all points of an issue.

• I will provide explanations of my votes and decisions.

• I will post my calendar at least once a month, indicating whom I met with and the topic(s) discussed.

• I will work with County Offices to provide access to more information on the County's web site.

• I will post Commission minutes and voting records on this web site until the County's web site does so.

• I will donate all of my after-tax County Commission salary to the PTC's of the Santa Fe Public Schools in my district: Agua Fria, Larragoite, Salazar, Wood Gormley, Gonzales and Alameda. This will return to the taxpayers and children about $3,000 per year per school, totaling $20,000 per year and $80,000  over 4 years.

Tom's Goals:

• Address the complex, urgent issues facing the County, especially water and growth. This is critical. Here are some of my ideas.

• Strive to improve relations, planning and cooperation with the city.

• Encourage mixed and affordable homes throughout the County. Home ownership is the bedrock of family and regional economic growth. Home equity funds college, startup businesses and retirement.

• Provide much better early community notification of local issues,  including automatic e-mail notification by location about all items appearing on all agendas relevant to an area.

• Encourage new and existing businesses to locate in the County. I have extensive experience in clean, startup technology companies.

• Strive to make County regulations more consistent and enforceable - Don't legislate by variance.

• Pay more attention to the recommendations from County Commission-appointed citizen advisory boards.

• Work towards solutions to rising Jail costs. Last year the Jail required emergency transfers of over $4,000,000 of discretionary money - money not spent on water, roads etc.

• Address the need for safe access to 599 and Caja del Rio / MRC.

• Implement a series of long term quality-of-life improvements such as small parks, litter control, walking/biking/riding trails, dark sky, more options for youth and elderly, and encourage small businesses.
   

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