Jonathan Gericke

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[1. My mother graduated from HHS in 1938 and I have extended family in Pope and Johnson counties. I grew up in Arizona and have lived in New Mexico, California, Colorado, and Alaska prior to moving to Williamson County in 1994 and Harrisburg in March 2007.

I entered the bricklayers apprenticeship in 1970 and progressed to foreman, then moved to other building trades and was a contractor for a brief period. After returning to college, I was district, then circulation manager for USA Today for 5 years.

After moving to Illinois, I began working as an insurance agent, added a securities license, and became an independent agent in 2004. My office is now in the SIC Foundation building.

I believe the Bible gives the best guidance on how to live with others and solve problems. I also believe my background with labor and management, self-employed and employee, non-skilled and professional gives me a good understanding of business issues. The variety of places I've lived and worked gives an understanding that perspective on an issue can shed tremendous light on how to best resolve it.

With the deficit the city already has, and the budget/financial issues confronting us in the near future, we need to focus on economic development and fiscal responsibility; focus on responsibility will enhance growth and development. I believe I can help us be more responsible with our finances and make them more efficient.

2. Neither of these issues is a high priority, since I believe there are other more pressing issues; however, both could be addressed.

Zoning protects property owners from having a pig farm or porn shop built next door, and should be addressed in Harrisburg and on a county-wide basis. Zoning also allows for an efficient and orderly plan for growth, without duplication of services or paying to remove improvements to build another improvement.

Annexation of property surrounded by city property would make sense, assuming the affected residents are already receiving city services.

3. The function of a city is to provide the structure for people to live together in close proximity. If a service is provided by the city, for the benefit of a specific person or entity, then it is appropriate to annex. To annex simply to increase revenue without consideration for the benefits provided to the new resident is taxation without representation. The city does not need to accept additional liabilities without a specific master-plan to benefit all concerned.

4.

1. Economic development should be the highest priority. We must develop and grow, or our primary export will continue to be our children. To accomplish that, remember that:

2. Favoritism, cronyism, and corruption will not facilitate growth or prosperity anywhere, and should be actively resisted on all fronts.

3. Our immediate focus should be on fiscal responsibility; a) reducing expenses as much and as rapidly as feasible to control our deficit while b) providing needed services at a reasonable cost c) without favoring any special interests. Money can only provide one commodity: a choice. The city that has assets will be able to use those assets for development; the city that is broke has no choices, no matter how many good opportunities present themselves.