6th Issues Letter: Leadership.
Countdown: One Week To Go! Election this coming Tuesday, November 3rd.
This week’s topic is leadership.
The Mayor’s job is to lead. It is your job to choose who Roswell’s leader will be for the next four years.
I have led Roswell for the past 12 years, and I have proven that I have the ability, the vision, the passion, and the time to be Mayor. My opponents have not.
Leadership has been described as the process by which one person enlists the aid of others in accomplishing a task. My opponents see the task of Mayor as leading the City Council. It is much more than that. The Mayor is responsible for being a leader in all aspects of the City. To succeed, the Mayor must enlist the aid of City employees, citizens, churches and synagogues, non-profits, civic organizations, and businesses. The Mayor must reach beyond the City limits to enlist the aid of the county, the school board, the library board, other cities, other local governments, and our state and national representatives. I have done this successfully and as a result, Roswell is a better place to live.
I serve on the Board of the North Fulton Municipal Association, the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, and the North Fulton Teaching Museum. I served as first chairperson of the Metropolitan Atlanta Mayors Association and chairperson for High Meadows School and the North Fulton Municipal Association. I have served as president of the Roswell Historical Society, the North Fulton Bar Association, GMA District 3, the Roswell Neighborhood Network, and the Greenway Community Club. I have served on the Boards of the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Georgia Municipal Association. I am a member of the Roswell Historical Society, Roswell Kiwanis Club, Roswell Rotary, Roswell Bike Club, and the Roswell Alpharetta Mountain Biking Organization.
The best measure of a leader's abilities is the success of the organization he or she is leading. I have passed that test with flying colors. Under my leadership, Roswell has been recognized as one of the "Top 3 Best Cities in the U.S. to Raise a Family."(Frommers 2007). The City has cut its property tax rate 17% and earned an AAA credit rating. Our crime rate has fallen 31% during my term of office, making Roswell the safest city in North Fulton County, and the 18th safest city in America with a population over 75,000.
Being Mayor of Roswell is a "part-time job" that I spend an average of 30 hours a week doing. One of my opponents has a full-time job outside of the City, which he plans on keeping if elected because of his stated belief that the Mayor’s job is limited to presiding at meetings and facilitating decisions. My other opponent has no job outside the home and her business experience is limited to working for her father’s small business. She claims that she is best qualified to oversee a budget of $100,000,000 and more than 650 full-time employees, and she has already announced her plans to reorganize City staff.
I live and work in Roswell, and I love it. I am open to suggestions, I have the courage to take positions on new ideas, and I have the wisdom to change as conditions change. I believe in engaging the community to find solutions for Roswell’s problems.
If you want to keep Roswell a great place to live and raise a family, vote to re-elect Jere Wood for Mayor on November 3rd.
Jere Wood, Mayor of Roswell
If you have any questions or suggestions about what Roswell should do to encourage redevelopment, or any other issues, I would love to hear from you. Please e-mail me at mayorwood@mayorwood.com, and I will personally answer your e-mail.
Please share this e-mail with your friends and neighbors. 
For Mayor Jere Wood’s positions on Redevelopment; Preventing Crime; City Spending and Taxes; Traffic and Transportation; Helping Local Businesses, and other issues, go to www.mayorwood@mayorwood.com/Issues.