By Tom Schoolcraft
Helotes mayor

“The ultimate source of information, and the whole world’s living wisdom, lies in the minds of others…all you have to do is ask.” — Walter Hailey, 1928-2003, entrepreneur, speaker

I was excited to see a capacity crowd with many new faces at our last council meeting. Of course, I knew that most of the crowd was probably there for the rezoning item on the agenda. That was confirmed when I looked up shortly after that item was disposed of and saw that many people had left the meeting. I can understand that most of you only become interested in those issues which might concern you directly, but that’s not really good enough. It’s important for all of you to become interested in all of the decisions which are made by the council. I encourage you to do that because every decision the council makes is important to both you and our city.

You are lucky to have a council in place with council members who work very hard to do their homework. They study the background material on every agenda item before each meeting, have good discussions, ask necessary questions, make their decisions, and finally, vote based upon what they feel is best for you and the city. You can’t ask for more than that.

I have previously issued many challenges to you to become well informed citizens by asking questions of the city staff and council and to get involved in the many issues we face as a community. I’m challenging you again. As interested and informed citizens, you will not be susceptible to just blindly accept the misinformation which is being doled out by a few negative malcontents in their blogs, e-mails, and newsletters. It is very important for you to do your own research on issues that concern you, be positive about our city, and think for yourself.

We are entering the budget planning time for our 2008-2009 fiscal year. Our department heads are preparing their respective budget requests. Their requests will be included in the mayor’s budget which will be presented to the council at our initial budget session. Your council will be considering many of the upcoming short and long term goals for Helotes. It is important for you to understand what it will take for us to reach our goal of a balanced budget. Call city hall or go online at www.helotes-tx.gov to find the dates for the workshops and meetings.

In April and May, I wrote several columns in the Echo about city finances. If you did not get a chance to read them, go back and take a look. Let us know if you need additional information. Attend our budget workshops. Get involved in the budget process. It is one of the most important activities of the year for your council and you. I look forward to seeing many of you there.