去年以百分之七十六得票率，高票當選連任的羅德島州唯一華裔市長，克蘭斯頓市(Cranston)
第廿位市長馮偉杰，七日晚在該市高中隆重舉行該市第54次市長就職典禮儀式，回顧過去，展望未來，強調合作的報告市情，展開他的第三任，為期四年的市長生涯。
馮偉杰是在2009年時首次當選為羅州克市市長，其後於2010年初次當選連任，再於今年二度當選連任。由於新年度適用新法，馮偉杰的市長任期，也從今年起，由一任兩年改為一任四年。七日上任後，要一直等到2016年，他才需要再面對是否尋求連任的問題。
馮偉杰強調，在未來四年的新市長任期中，他的首要目標是穩定市府，確保居民對政府的信任。根據該一目標，他上任後的第一項行政命令是道德要求(Ethics mandate)，將為該市指派一名道德長(chief
ethics officer)，以容許市府員工發現問題時，有投訴之地。克市也將把州府道德委員會員工帶到克市辦理培訓。
他的優先要務中還包括社區參與，要確保市民知道市內都發生了什麼事，市內所有重要的消息，都在市府網站上可看到。市府也將以臉書(facebook)、推特(twitter)和市民互動。
在發展經濟上，他強調克市有很好的經濟發展成就，儘管全美及羅州的經濟都不景氣，但克市卻能在過去四年間增加了一千個工作機會，TACO完成了二千萬元的擴展，Alex 及 Ani’s的全世界總部將設在克市。Cadence遷進了克市，並正擴展，估計可增加150個工作機會。First Compc和GoGo Cast 這兩家公司也搬進了克市。
馮偉杰感謝克市居民對他的信任，強調將來要和克市居民合作，把克市經營得更好。
由於今年有三名共和黨員贏得市議員席位，終結了克市議會在馮偉杰過去二任市長期間，都由民主黨掌控的局面，本身是共和黨籍的馮偉杰也忍不住高興的表示，議會中有些同黨聲音，當然有幫助。他希望新的市議會將願意和他合作，一起解決克市的許多問題，而不是像過去那兩任期間一樣，有時候議會和市長辦公室的關係是來來去去。
克蘭斯頓市市長就職儀式，由克蘭斯頓市警察局的羅伯萊恩(Robert
Ryan)將軍擔任司儀，克市東西銅管樂團奏樂。Marissa DiBiase唱國歌。
馮偉杰的家人，以及羅德島華人協會的葉超，吳子平都出席與盛。
羅德島州唯一的華裔市長，克蘭斯頓市(Cranston)市長馮偉杰(右二)第三度就職，母親勞丹萍(左二)，羅德島華人協會的葉超(左一)，吳子平(右一)都出席與盛。
Inauguration Speech of Mayor Allan W. Fung
Monday January 13, 2013
Good Evening everyone and
welcome to the City of Cranston’s
54th Inauguration.
I would like to begin by
thanking some people:
1.
The Inaugural committee, city employees, and sponsors for putting this event
together and to all the participants in our time honored tradition;
2.
The distinguished members of the judiciary;
3.
My colleagues in government from our local state representatives and senators,
particularly for their work on our behalf, to our state-wide and federal
officials who have joined us tonight;
4.
The distinguished Chief Executives (Mayors and Town Administrators), all with
whom I’ve worked closely to help our respective communities and the state. I’ve
been privileged to develop wonderful friendships with each of them;
5.
The taxpayers of our great city who have made great sacrifices during these
difficult economic times;
6.
Our city employees, who have done more work with less resources, and have
helped our city financially; and
7.
Finally, my family…my sisters, Arlene and Anna and my brother in law Rich…my
mom and dad. They have been there all throughout my career in public service
and I appreciate their support. In particular, I want to thank my mom and dad
because if it wasn’t for them taking their courageous first steps to leave the
country where they were born, leave their family and friends, I would not be
where I am today. I love you.
-2-
It’s been a wonderful journey
in public service for me and I’ve been honored to be a servant leader for the
residents of our great city.
Ten years ago, I stood on
this stage and took my oath to serve the City as a City Councilor. For four
years, I worked hard for the people of Cranston
from the legislative side of the house.
In that role, we tackled many
problems, but we knew that there was much more work to do before we could
declare that we had stabilized our City. I knew that if I really wanted to
affect major change, I needed to do so from the Executive branch, where I could
work to make my vision for Cranston’s
stable future a reality.
So I ran for Mayor and in
2008, the people of Cranston
put their trust in me to lead
our great city.
When I became Mayor, I did so
knowing that the Charter would allow me eight years – if the voters chose – to
try to ensure that Cranston was put on a stable track so that the problems that
have plagued us for decades would not plague the future generations of our
City. I knew that the task would be a challenge. My goal then as it still is
today is to leave our city in a better place than when I first took office.
Tonight I stand here because
you, the people of Cranston,
have trusted me once again to continue that work. This has not been an easy
road. There have been a lot of ups and downs. But I have loved the ride and
learned a lot from this experience.
Let me take a moment to share
some of the successes that we have realized over these past four years and let
me also say that we achieved these goals because of a tremendous team of people
I have around me in my staff and employees and as a result of many bi-partisan
efforts with our City Council and also our schools.
My first goal to stabilize
the city was to make sure that our residents had confidence in our government.
To that end, my first Executive Order was an ETHICS mandate that
established processes and named a chief ethics officer in our city so that
employees could have a place to go if they had questions. We also brought in
the staff from the state Ethics Commission to train not only our directors but
also employees in certain departments that deal a lot with the public.
-3-
Next, we put a priority on COMMUNITY
ENGAGEMENT to ensure that our residents know what is going on. We have
held town hall meetings. We are out meeting with community groups. We make sure
all important news is on our city website. You see me out at many events
working with and supporting our youth, whether it is in our schools, in our
city or even in other parts of our state. Not surprisingly, Facebook and
Twitter are dynamic and engaging communications tools. And yes, for those of
you who have hit me up, you know that is me on the other side personally
answering your questions.
These past four years, we’ve
weathered a lot of storms, both figuratively and literally. As you may
remember, within days of my taking office in January, 2009, we were informed
that state aid would be cut by millions of dollars – within the middle of that
current budget – which already had structural holes. As you all know, we made
significant cuts. But we did so in the right way, by walking the walk. I did
not ask of any city employee to make any sacrifices that my staff and I would
not make.
We have successfully managed
to weather that loss and other more permanent and drastic cuts in aid from the
state in subsequent years through IMPLEMENTING SOUND FISCAL PRACTICES.
·
Cut staff in all departments including the
Mayor’s office
·
Instituted
multi-year pay freezes
·
Invoked higher
health care co-pays for all employees and revised plan designs to better
control costs
·
Negotiated
millions in concessions from labor unions who came to the table immediately
when we faced the state funding cuts
·
Refinanced our
debt to save $700,000 in interest costs
·
Joined health
care collaborative to reduce administration costs
·
Curtailed the use
of outside vendors and brought more work back in-house
·
Reduced energy
costs
·
Immediately
eliminated vehicles for the Mayor and the Director of Administration
·
Innovatively
leased out the Peter Pastore Complex to the YMCA
·
Negotiating the
first ever PILOT agreement with Johnson and Wales University
All of those practices we
have carried forward whenever possible to maintain a tight line on the City’s
budget.
