People say the third time’s the charm. For long time Sidney resident Roger Gallaway, he hopes the adage comes true for him as he seeks a seat on the Sidney city council. With ten candidates vying for three seats, he will need more than the turn of a phrase to be successful in his third attempt in six years.
Gallaway feels a passion to serve the people of Sidney, Neb. He hopes to leverage his skills in communication and project management and hopes to combine them with his community spirit in what he hopes will be a winning bid for city council. During a phone interview lasting more than an hour,
Gallaway discussed a variety of issues, giving his insight on the current situation for Sidney along with the need to keep an eye on the future.
Gallaway has lived here longer that some lifer residents, having moved here in 1992. “I’ve been promoting Sidney to others ever since I moved here,” he said. “I realized early on that I really enjoyed being able to call Sidney home.”
Gallaway’s first run at public office came during a special election to fill the seat vacated by former Councilman Loren Avey. 18 months later, Gallaway ran again when the seat came up during its regular rotation. Each time he has run, he feels he improved as a candidate.
Though times have changed, Gallaway said his motivation for running remains the same. “I think there are a lot of great things about our community that are worth promoting,” he said. Issues involving communication seem to be the biggest problem confronting the council and Gallaway feels his communication skills in that area can help bridge the gap between the public’s perceptions of city staff and council member interactions.
“I have an ability to work with a wide range of people.” Gallaway said his 20-year career as an educator has allowed him to connect with literally thousands of people from students and faculty to administrators and people outside the school systems. “I haven’t found anybody that I couldn’t work with and communicate with. I think that is a skill that would lend itself well to the council.”
Getting things done, especially today, is financially challenging. “Throwing money at a problem isn’t always the best way to solve it.” Necessity sometimes forces him to find creative means to address issues that need taking care of. He said that, “sometimes you are a bit of a scavenger,” but being creative forces you to look at problems from multiple angles and that tends to lead to a better result.
Gallaway feels there are four primary areas of focus for his candidacy. Communication, infrastructure, taxes and long-term vision for the future are the things that keep him up at night.
The issue of communication requires immediate attention in his view. “For whatever reasons,” he said, “it doesn’t seem that the [appropriate] level of communication is getting across from the council to the public and vice-versa.” In his mind, Gallaway isn’t sure why the communication isn’t getting across. “City government should be a place where things are very open, very visible,” He said. City council meetings should be a place where people can ask questions and receive “simple answers.”
Gallaway believes that infrastructure is more than streets. “We don’t have the means to address the issue,” he said of the street maintenance challenges. “It isn’t a question of ability, but rather finances … Plainly, I think the street maintenance issue is much larger than the resources we are currently able to put toward it.” Both Gallaway and his son have worked for street departments, so he recognizes the challenge they face. “By the time you make the rounds patching one area, it’s time to go back again. It’s never-ending and we are simply not able to address the size of the problem right now.”
Gallaway said that Sidney needs to look at ways to either restructure current budgets to raise the priority of road projects or explore new ways to, “inject funds,” into the problem. One such way that could avoid the politically sensitive issue of raising revenue though tax increases would be to extend certain fees for projects such as the well field or waste water treatment facility after those projects are paid for. He believes that people would be more willing to accept extending those payments rather than a new tax increase, especially if they, “could directly see the benefits.” Gallaway believes that creative problem solving will find a solution everyone can live with and benefit from.
With respect to other areas in Sidney’s infrastructure, Gallaway notes the progress made but sees room for additional improvements.
Commenting on electrical distribution project, Gallaway said, “We’ve seen some improvements where we are starting to put more of the grid underground.” Gallaway feels that even though the city has made progress, “We can make a whole lot more effort.” He feels this should be a high priority issue for the city.
Flood control presents additional opportunities as well. “We have made gains in our water system and waste water treatment facility,” noting the good progress made to date. He said the need to work on storm drainage systems needs improvement. “Here we are, a community that lives on the flood plain and we built a ditch through town to take care of the 500 year flood and yet, inevitably each year we still have a couple storms where there are a number of blocks under water.” Gallaway said that he would like to see more storm drains to address the known issue of flooding.
Taxing considerations.
“Obviously people are concerned with the amount of taxes we are paying in the community and rightfully so,” said Gallaway. Considering the balance between wants and needs is key to promoting sensible and sustainable growth.
Some projects are necessary. Gallaway said examples like the water well field and water tower are good for the community. He notes that while many people were concerned over the need for the project, he believes Sidney took care of its own long-term interest by ensuring a primary employer had the resources to secure its economic viability. “That was a win-win situation in my opinion,” he said.
“We are doing the kind of things we should do to expand our tax base.” Gallaway said that it is important to have a healthy economy; further expansion of the tax base through attracting additional employers will help share the tax burden and possibly reduce the overall tax rate.
Part of Gallaway’s vision for responsible growth puts an emphasis on responsible.
“We’ve had a lot of development through TIF [Tax Increment] financing. I think sometimes people get really gung-ho and want anything & everything to come in but at the same time you have to temper that and make sure that it is the type of growth that is going to be good for your community and it is the type of growth that can be sustained by your community.”
Gallaway adds that TIF programs can be effective when balanced against the rest of the community’s needs. “As far as a tool, I think TIF is a great.”
Another part of the responsible growth involves all areas of the community. There are clear opportunities to improve the situation for north side residents and Gallaway, like many others, feels that the Deadwood Trail system should continue to the north side.
“I remember Joe Deluca,” he said of the one-time resident’s letter to the Sidney Sun-Telegraph. Deluca talked about extending the park system around the north side. Gallaway agrees with the sentiment. “I was like … why haven’t we made an effort to go from the fair grounds up around the north side, kind of encircling the town.” He also added “What better use of a park or trail system than to traverse the majority of your community.” The trail could differ from the existing one and afford opportunities to bring people from the south side of town to take advantage of the scenery around bluffs including steeper terrain for better exercise for bikers and runners.
The north side park is an opportunity as well. “I think it’s great that we have such a beautiful park at Legion Park and that we have a nice pond,” he said. “But my opinion has always been, why do we just have to have one nice park? Why can’t we have several nice parks?”
Gallaway said that developing the park could be done in a different way, perhaps making use of landscaping or other atheistically pleasing designs to create a different atmosphere. He talked about some of the parks in other communities with attractions such as a water jets for kids to cool off in the summer. Using creative processes could allow the park on the north side to be seen as a complement to, rather than competitor of, the swimming facilities near Legion Park on the south side. Gallaway said implementing such things could be done efficiently. Referring to the water park in Kearney, Neb. “The system was set up so that it’s only running when someone comes through facility and activates it.” Despite the costs associated with water and utilities, Gallaway feels that it would be worth the investment. He cited an observation tower that gives an outstanding view over the area. “What a great service that was provided there [Kearney]."
Looking at the north side for economic development, parks and recreation requires someone with long-term vision.
“We need people on the city council that are able to address issues that are currently facing the community; but what is just as important to me is that you have to have a vision for the future.” Gallaway said that he has the ability to take a long-range look at the community and try to be proactive in solving the current issues by planning for future growth.
One example of leadership Gallaway brings to the table can be found in a project he did for Sidney Public Schools and the implementation of its fiber optic network.
“We had to figure out what type of system we needed to connect four elementary buildings, all across town together with the middle school and high school.” In addition to figuring out what would what transmission needs had to be addressed currently, Gallaway said that it was necessary to also project what demand on the system might look like many years down the road.
“The network is designed in a way,” he said, ”that it will more than handle the types of demands place on it now, as well as any video conferencing or other applications that might be foreseen down the road.”
“It was an effort that required a lot of communication,” he said. “We had to work with the vendors, who supplied the materials for the project. We had to represent the school. We had to talk with the city and their representatives because we received permission to hang our lines on their utility poles and we had to work with ADC when they were providing a lot of resources and materials as well.
“When Gary (Person) talks about railroads and easements, he knows what he is talking about,” he said speaking of the difficulty dealing with existing regulations. “By partnering with the city, we were able to take advantage of existing easements.” He credits early involvement and ample communication as the keys to understanding the regulations and providing the opportunity to utilize existing resources.
Despite the success of that project, Gallaway finds barriers still exist that have negative effects on the community. One of his chief concerns is that there is only one underpass to the north side and cites it as a major obstacle to effectively developing the north.
“Most definitely,” he said of the costs that accompany negotiations such as the one used to create the underpass initially. Gallaway said, “I would be willing to bet that when they agreed to do the underpass going to the north side there, in return the city had to close off some other crossings.”
“Since that’s been closed [10th street crossing], businesses on that side of town have died and gone away. It’s totally had a negative impact on that part of the community.” Gallaway stresses that if Sidney is going to be serious about promoting the community, then they have to promote the entire community.
The north side isn’t the only area needing attention. Gallaway believes the lack of an overpass could contribute to problems if a train was to block the crossing and a fire broke out at the hospital. The need for a better access though that section of town could have been addressed years ago.
According to Gallaway, “Every property surrounding those crossings, particularly along 10th street, has been up for sale at one time or another.” He also said that if an effective long-range vision had been in place, those properties could have been purchased and a process to create and solution to the crossing area might have been developed. Gallaway feels that while the train lines provide economic opportunities, they also provide barriers that isolate both ends of town from the middle.
When asked whether the city should seek opportunities to bridge the issue, Gallaway said, maybe. “It could be part of a long range plan,” he said. “Great things cannot be done without great effort and great planning.” He adds that these are the kind of things we need to be looking at now to plan for the future.
“We can see that the traffic and tying our community together is a problem now. If we continue to grow and to build, this problem is only going to continue to grow and to build.”
“Even if we can’t get concessions from the railroad now,” according to Gallaway, “it doesn’t or shouldn’t preclude the city from preparing itself for a solution to the issue later.”
Gallaway, who is an avid motorcycle rider, likes taking the lesser-travelled roads. He said that some of his vision for Sidney comes from trips he takes and things he sees in other communities. “Its always interesting to look at other communities … As I go through the state and look at all these other communities, I couldn’t believe how many of them had some type of pedestrian bridge over the tracks and in my mind, that just makes me ask, if they were able to get that done, why can’t we.” Gallaway believes that a crossing near Safeway would create a safer crossing for kids who attend middle and high school from the north side who now sometimes squeeze through the fence to make it easier to get to school.
Increasing the population for the community through the introduction of new businesses and new hires is challenging. Gallaway said that City taxes increase costs compared to non-city locales. ”We do get the trickle down effect … more people, more jobs in the community, but they are not inside the city limits,” he said.
“For years the city has tried to develop an industrial park complex on the east end of town.” It hasn’t been easy and Gallaway said people, “would like to have seen more development out there.”
Gallaway thinks that the answer is in selling the services of the community. “What types of services can we provide [within our taxing authority] to an area like that, that makes it more viable than locating outside of town?” He talked about the promoting the city infrastructure or possibly assisting new businesses with the cost of construction as areas that could help, but Gallaway recognizes the approach has risks.
The need to increase city population or businesses within the city limits is also important to Gallaway. “On the one hand we are building our economy and we are experiencing growth through that aspect, but we are not getting the residual effects of people living in town,” including property taxes, sales taxes and other fees. He also said that even though the number of jobs has increased, many people choose to commute to town from other areas, increasing demand, wear and tear on services and infrastructure, but not contributing real estate taxes.
All the news on population isn’t bad. According to Gallaway, there is now beginning to appear some signs of growth in the population, as evidenced by the uptick in primary class sizes in the Sidney Public Schools. “Typically we see around a hundred kids per graduating class and the first six or 8 years [he lived in Sidney] that we were dipping way below that.”
Class sizes provides a barometer of sorts for Gallaway. He said of increasing classes. “Now we are seeing classes that are over a hundred, with a couple classes that are consistently over one hundred students.”
According to Gallaway the school system is already beginning to see the need for additional space. “The administration is fully aware that there’s going to be a lot of needs in the lower elementary grades,” he said. Issues that might see the addition of mobile classrooms have been and might continue to be part of the solution but new facilities and potential consolidation might be necessary at some point.
When considering which avenue to take, it is important to evaluate the options and economic impacts of those choices. Upgrading a facility, adding on mobile classrooms or even building a new facility has to make sense and according to Gallaway, there are situations where any of those choices would be the correct one. The key to making the right choice will be in how the needs are communicated to the public and the school board authorities.
The controversy over the nature of the dual role held by current city manager/economic development director is also something to consider.
“I think from a purely philosophical standpoint," he said, "without looking at any of the people involved, is it a fair question to ask if these two positions should be separated. And I think, yeah, I think it’s a fair question to ask.” Gallaway goes on to state that you can get to a good result if you periodically question why certain things are done and by changing them if needed, but periodically validating your processes is healthy.
“Maybe along the way we will find some other answers or other solutions that maybe aren’t currently being looked at that would address current issues, if there are any,” he said. Gallaway added the current financial position of the city, and the results from the current city manager don’t provide a lot of evidence to actually separate the positions.
“I don’t have a problem whatsoever with Gary Person,” he said. “I think he lives and breathes Sidney and is as passionate about the people of Sidney as anyone around.” While not advocating splitting the two positions, Gallaway does feel that the public has a right to ask that the practice be evaluated.
Gallaway isn’t happy with the current sales tax refund policy either. “These taxes were intended to be local.” He adds that the state’s interpretation for taxes has hurt localities such as Sidney, but we need to adjust, even as we look for solutions.
“The city has done a little bit with the occupation taxes and we are just beginning to see what we might be able to do with them,” he said. Careful consideration needs to be given to projects that are initially funded by grants, with a future long-term requirement that would increase city expenses.
“It may be grant money today, but is it something you can sustain on your own?” Unfunded mandates are something Gallaway has experience with. “Education is notorious for unfunded mandates and we see the same things some times at the local level from the state.”
“It’s great that we are getting this huge amount of money,” he said. Gallaway also said the city needs to balance the ability to get the grant with our projected ability to sustain the project and do it only if we can afford the long-term expense.
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