MEET BRAD
NEW LEADERSHIP DELIVERING RESULTS FOR COLONIAL HEIGHTS
I've had the pleasure of calling Colonial Heights home for most of my life. My family moved to Colonial Heights in 1971 when my dad was stationed at what was then Fort Lee. When he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1980, after 27 years of active duty, we moved to Dinwiddie, where I graduated in 1984. In 1993, I married my wife of 31 years, Debbie Strother Slaybaugh. When our twin daughters Haley and Kellie were born in 1994, we decided to move back to Colonial Heights. We knew it would be a fantastic place to raise our family. In 2000, we had our third daughter, Casie. Our daughters all attended and graduated from Colonial Heights schools, and went on to receive master degrees. Haley and Kellie are currently teaching in Chesterfield, and Casie is working on her PhD at VCU.
Over the past 30 years living in Colonial Heights, I’ve watched the slow downward trend the city has experienced. I feel the frustration of knowing my children currently don’t want to live in Colonial Heights. Ask yourself, What does Colonial Heights have to offer the younger generation? As older residents, we’ve grown up with the city, and it can be difficult to see the needs of the next generation. We all travel to other areas and similar cities, seeing vibrant communities and city centers. I see an effort and desire to create and maintain bustling areas for citizens that attract young people. I see excitement, and I ask myself too often, why them and not us. This very observation has caused me to do something I never thought I'd do: run for an elected office.
I ask all of you to take some time one day to ride around our GREAT historical city, but do it with a critical eye. Think of our city name, Colonial Heights. We have an amazing history, and not many cities in this great country can claim that. We need to honor that history and improve our city. We need to work on maintaining our history while looking forward to the future.
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The Chilli Peppers have been a great addition to the city and Shepard Stadium looks great from the outside; however, the restrooms are exactly the same as when I played in the BIB tournament 45 years ago. This is the type of problem I’m talking about when I say we need to preserve our past while securing our future!
We are fortunate to have a top-notch first responder force, and their leadership is doing a lot of great things to protect our city. We have many tenured employees, but many have recently retired and more retirements are to come. We have to attract employees that are willing to stay. We train new employees, and lose them to other localities with higher pay. If, our employees are the priority we say they are, we need to show them that! We need a better comprehensive pay plan.
When you ask something of city leadership, there are usually two easy answers for them to give. “No” and “that will raise taxes." Saying no, means nothing has to actually be done, and taxes certainly don’t have to be raised. We need to look at things differently. We need to make sure we are being financially responsible with the revenue we are given, and that we are collecting all the taxes that are due.
We also need to be more aggressive in our economic development sector. As a city, we need to form private/public partnerships and relationships. We have a wealth of local and regional talent in real estate, business, and redevelopment. We desperately need some redevelopment, and we need to maximize our growth in a smart direction. We only have so much area to work with, so we need a broad range of ideas and input to ensure we are making the best decisions for the future of our city.
While this may sound like I’m complaining, it's far from that. I’m offering to roll up my sleeves and get in the fight. I am offering to work, to help us realize our city's potential, and make it a great place that our children want to move back to. I understand that being on the City Council is a bigger commitment than showing up for a meeting twice a month. I need your help to do that. Please, attend the various forums coming up between now and election day, and be my guest at one of my personal campaign events that we'll be listing on my Facebook page, “Brad Slaybaugh for Colonial Heights City Council."
Please vote in this critical year for our city, state, and country. I appreciate your consideration, and I would be honored to have your vote. Early voting starts on September 20th, and election day is on November 5th