Letter: Davis ready to work for all constituents
To the community,
Now that the campaign signs have been picked up, and the ballot counted finalized, I want to thank my campaign staff for their hard work, determination and dealing with the rigors of this campaign despite their busy schedules. I also want to thank this community for their continued support and for your votes this past election. I have done my very best these past four years to create a Lake Tahoe that we can be proud of and I am thankful for the vote of confidence to be able to continue that work for these next four years. As I have stated from the beginning of this campaign, the only endorsement that matters to me is from you, the voters. I am grateful for your endorsement, and I hear your concerns.
Tom Davis
I am humbled by this community’s faith in me and what I strive to accomplish everyday as a member of your City Council. Progress in Lake Tahoe is definitely a marathon and not a sprint, and I have done my best to stick to my principals, campaign promises and goals from the very beginning. I will continue to work as hard as I have for you, my fellow citizens to continue to make Lake Tahoe the best that it can be, to live, work and play.
For those of you that didn’t vote for me, my job is to represent all the citizens of South Lake Tahoe. So I ask that if you have any comments, questions, concerns or suggestions, please stop and speak with me, call me or join me for coffee. Even when we disagree, I’m always available to listen, lean and try new perspectives and ideas. I believe as a small community, we are all in this together and moving not only our agenda but our city forward, requires hard work and dedication from all of us.
Finally, to my son, Justin, thank you for your time, effort and unwavering dedication to my campaign and me. I could not have asked for a better campaign manager and I would not have been able to accomplish this task without you, your guidance and your hard work.
Now ladies and gentlemen, the hard work begins once again. I am looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting back to work.
Sincerely,
Tom Davis, South Lake Tahoe councilman, 530.545.1168 or tdavis@cityofslt.us
Tom,
Thank you for your service and I’m so very happy you were re-elected to the council with such a strong showing. As I mentioned through this campaign to the negative people commenting about you, you have an abundance of support in this community and this just further proves it. I wasn’t surprised that you were the only incumbent that was relected. You have stood on principle and the paid parking was one of those issues… I think Brooke just fell short and I must say it, Angela’s phonynees and lies finally caught up with her!!!!!! Lastly, I find it interesting that those who lodged lies and misstatements about you on LTN are now nowhere to be found and would never speak with you to “hash out” their issues!!! Enjoy the next 4 years, continue to listen to the people and keep getting things done!!!!!!
Tom Davis, I agree with everything Tahoe K said about you and your re-election!!! So I won’t repeat it all, but I say, keep on workin’ hard for our community. I also thought it was cool you put out your phone number at the end of your letter. Your the second person on the city council to do so. Bravo!
Have a Happy Holiday and another 4 more years of making things better for SLT. Congratulations! OLS
OLS, I’ve known Tommy since 1971 – always a fun guy to be around, but not a whole lot of depth.
Having moved down the hill in 1996 I am obviously no longer a voter in South Lake Tahoe, but merely an interested and financially involved observer.
But Tommy, year after year, signed off on employee retirement benefits that originated in the 1980s as a proposal by the City to offer retirement health benefits in exchange for cost of living adjustments. It was a tough sell to younger employees who preferred to have their salaries up front. But employees in their late forties and above saw the benefits and managed to convince their younger companions to agree with the city’s proposal.
During the immediate years following the agreement, the SLT Police Department, to choose one example, dropped from the bottom 20 percentile in California for employee wages to the bottom 5 percentile. Of course, no one factored in the significant benefit of retiree health benefits.
And, apparently, the “no one” who factored didn’t realize that the City Council, including, for many of those years, Tommy, was likewise failing to even consider funding the liability the council had taken on, at their own suggestion, years before. In some places, that’s called a “scam.”
I understand the position of South Lake Tahoe city government in plotting to rid themselves of an unfunded liability their politicians proposed years before, and even rode to small town power on. But I’d be very careful about praising Tommy for his contributions to the City; as a minor league manipulator, he has slid past all of his responsibility for shafting the employees (whom he was always willing to glad-hand and share stories with) and, once more, been elected on his alleged “contributions.”
Thanks – just needed to vent and share a little reality.
copper:
Thanks for your remarks with which I completely agree. I cannot help but wonder why, when those long-ago giveaways were happening, no one ever thought to ask the very simple question of what the financial impacts would be to the City if the costs of healthcare were to rise steeply and the City was paying 100% of the healthcare costs for current employees and their dependents and for retirees and their dependents. That’s a Business 101 or Accounting 101 type of question and decision-makers with fiduciary responsibilities are supposed to contemplate such potential scenarios and make those types of inquiries. Providing excuses after the fact for such rudimentary business acumen would get you fired in the private sector, but in SLT as long as you say you don’t want paid parking you get re-elected.
Spouse – 4-mer-usmc
Copper, if you have known me since 71 you know my name is not Tommy. However I want to meet with you and the City Manager to get the facts straight regarding the Health care issue. Call me .
Yes it is Tommy….that’s what Mary calls you!
Sorry Tom, I’ve known you since you were renting a room from Dave (Davey?) and, within those circles, I knew you as Tommy.
I’m sure that the City Manager already knows the view of the retirees who feel betrayed by the City. And, as no longer an employee nor any longer one of your constituents, I see nothing to be gained from a meeting.
As for your own credibility in, for years, annually approving an employee benefit for which the employees sacrificed the competitiveness of their wages, yet unbeknownst to anyone, never bothering to fund that benefit, you already know everything I, and a pretty large group of other retirees, have to say about the matter.
Congratulations on your new term of office.
Well Copper I have never been known as Tommy in any circles. So you don’t know me. I guess you don’t want to sit down and review the facts. But still call me. But I know you won’t.
Yo Tom I am surprised that the folks behind the Curtain let you back in.
I thought for sure they were going to Boot you to the Curb since you did not follow their Game 100%.
maybe it’s a marketing ploy to make the Locals feel like they are being represented.
The lifetime medical benefits were approved in the mid 80s long before Tom Davis was on the city council.