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2008-11-20  COLUMNISTS | Fresh look: Seeing Milton through a citizen's eyes
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November 19, 2008
As some of you may know, a few weeks ago a 14-year-old student and Milton resident won the opportunity to be "Mayor of the Day" at the Milton High School Gala silent auction. As a result, he and his father spent the day with me at City Hall to learn all about Milton and what it takes to run a city.
I expected that I would give them a tour of City Hall and that they would enjoy themselves, but what I didn't expect was that I would, for the first time, see the city from a different perspective. I didn't expect to see Milton through their eyes.
I am sure before my guests arrived they were probably thinking – always having heard more bad press than good – that this is just a typical government and city. But I was wrong. To see their expressions throughout the day, and to hear their comments surprised and enlightened me.
At one point, the boy's father looked at me and said, "You guys have to be so proud. You have done so well. The people here are so sharp and impressive and they are doing such a good job. I am just blown away."
Hearing that wonderful sentiment, I was blown away myself. For the first time, I was seeing the city through untainted eyes. I was getting a fresh perception of Milton. It was great to look at Milton from a third-party point of view because you tend to get bogged down by the daily issues so much that it can be difficult to look at things in such an honest way.
The truth is, Milton is a great city and a wonderful place to live and visit. This is why I would like to take the opportunity to personally invite any citizen interested in taking a tour of City Hall with me to see what running a city is all about, to give me a call.
I would like to thank our staff and let them know that they should be proud of themselves and how far we've come. I want to let the Council know how proud I am of them too.
I also would like to thank those before me in our Legislature, Rep. Jan Jones and our steering committee for the opportunity to build Milton for our citizens.
And of course, I want to thank my special guests for teaching me to look at Milton in a different light. I believe I learned more from my visitors than they learned from me.
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