Mayor Jay Beckby, (City of Hastings, Courtesy)
HASTINGS — Hastings Mayor Jay Beckby issued his State of the City address during the Hastings city council meeting during the evening of Monday, March 10.
Beckby noted that during his campaign that he would be transparent with the citizens of the community. He said past mayors have not issued a State of the City address, but he felt it was a way he could be transparent with residents.
“As I said in my campaign, I’m not a politician, so this has all been a little new to me. But I diligently have been working with the staff, council and city boards, learning as much as I possibly can in the last 80 days,” Beckby said.
He said he sought to run for mayor because he felt there was a disconnect between the staff, boards, council and the citizen. Beckby said the citizen needed better representation, he said he ran on a campaign of change.
Beckby said he wanted strong leadership in the mayoral position to move toward common sense legislation that benefits the people of Hastings. In his first 80 days, he feels they are moving in that direction.
“We are working toward unified goals,” he said.
Beckby said that he strives to see the city council and city staff be held accountable for their jobs, but he said he wants to be held just as accountable for being a knowledgeable leader and learning about the operations of the city.
Beckby also said he wanted to change the city’s spending habits, he said he already has had conversations with staff about the cuts he wishes to see enacted in next year’s budget.
He said he has no desire to eliminate anyone’s job with the city, but through attrition, promotion and restructuring, he wants to cut staff overtime. He said the budget process will start in April.
Since assuming his role, Beckby said he can already identify more than $350,000 in savings that the city will be able to achieve in the coming fiscal year. He said city staff will review each vacant position.
Beckby said they are starting six months earlier than usual taking a deep dive into the budget for a through review.
“We need to change our growth, we need to reach a level of sustainable growth, where population, industry, retail and housing all grow in unison,” Beckby said.
He noted he wants the city to work for a sustained population growth of at least one percent per year, which would be around 250 people over the next four years.
Beckby said the city needs to work to attract new businesses, create affordable housing and promote the new workforce housing, which has grown to 600 new units. He also wishes to see the number of single-family homes grow.
“I want house, not just apartments, I want backyards, driveways and a place someone can call home,” he said.
Beckby turned his attention to regulations when he said, “For years we have heard horror stories of the regulations and inspection process within this city. It hinders growth is what is said.”
He said he has worked with developmental services, the fire department, city administrator and city council to streamline the process and level the playing field for developers of all sizes.
“We are going to get this inspection stigma off the back of Hastings,” Beckby said.
Beckby also noted he wants to improve accessibility to the local government, he noted they changed the time of the council meetings to 6 p.m. so that people who were getting off work could more easily participate.
Beckby said that not everyone will like his leadership style, but he said he will always stand for what he believes is right for Hastings and its residents.
Moving on, Becky told an anecdote of recently overhearing a conversation between a father and daughter who must have been visiting Hastings. The two asked a group of women at the restaurant they were all at, if there happened to be a JCPenny in town.
Beckby paused for the laughs from the audience and continued saying that he has lived in the community for 40 years and he understands the frustration of all the retail locations that have been lost over the period.
“I can’t guarantee I’ll bring more retail growth to Hastings. I can’t guarantee that Hastings will see population growth. I can’t guarantee that Hastings will see economic growth. But I can guarantee that for the next four years I won’t quit trying; I never have,” Beckby said.
“As I continue to learn and understand the city and this job, I want the citizens to be aware that there are people out there in special-interest groups that wish to guide the city from behind the scenes. This has been going on for years; we’ve talked about it since I was a kid. I do not work for them, nor will I be coerced by them. I work for the citizen and the best interests of the city.”
Beckby said he has listened to the comments that Hastings won’t grow because it is too far from Intestate 80, that special interest groups won’t let it grow but Kearney and Grand Island are flourishing, or that Hastings has turned down business projects and overregulated.
“We need to change our city’s perspective as we move into the future. It’s as simple as that,” Beckby said.
