Vote Tueday November 4th for John Sims!

It has been seven plus years since my first election to the Commission. You and I share many memories, trials and tribulations. Some of those memories have been glorious, some have been very frightening and sad. We have made many friends and enemies, and have gained and lost the support of residents. After all of the trials and tribulations, the opportunity to work with you and serve Cooper City has made my life’s goals worthwhile, and I wish to continue to serve the public in the best way that I can, looking out for you...

The coming election on Nov. 4th is of great importance to Cooper City. It is and has always been my committed goal to represent all of the city residents regardless of the district lines, which are in place for residency requirements only. Anyone in the entire city can support me.

As many of you are aware the problems that have faced us over the past couple of years has demanded that the voice of the residents must be heard and responded to, and not simply at the pleasure of a few. I have never wavered from my dedication to providing a forum for you to communicate your needs and to seek out solutions that are responsive to you.

The budget of the city has increased from less than $30M to over $50M in 7 years. I have vigorously sought to prevent unnecessary spending, yet at the same time insisting that the quality of services to the residents be of utmost importance.

As the only commissioner who has run a business and met payroll, I can assure you that now that this is not the time for on-the-job training, inexperience and a learning process at your expense. My experience, expertise and fundamental understanding of the processes of municipal government is solely directed to making the very best of what we offer as services of the city. 

The issues that seem to continue to require diligence are speed control within the city, the proper allocation of Code Compliance (compliance is the key, not a heavy handed oppression), and an upmost persistence to open transparent government with my commitment to hearing what the residents want, as that is why I am have earned the name of your ‘Go To’ commissioner.

It is responding to your emails, letters, and phone calls that resulted in your confidence in me by elected me twice and I hope for a third term so that I can continue to act on your behalf and not just simply go along to get along as some of my colleagues seem to do.

To know John Sims is to know how hard he works for you. He has the right vision for Cooper City and, with your cooperation; wonderful new things can happen to our quality of life & neighborhoods in Cooper City. At the same time John is very business oriented and fiscally astute. If you want a straight answer, not rhetoric, talk to John. If you want many continued empty promises, runaway spending and politically correct gibberish, vote for those who oppose and who are running against Commissioner Sims.

It is quite clear that some have in the past, and another one is running for office without any real understanding of the issues must less how to go about finding a solution. We need experience in city hall, not just another empty suit! Let's all continue the fight to solve the issues that linger in our city!

Who's going to be able to deliver leadership in our future without the constraints and ties to the past or present, without obligations and political favors to special interests? That’s right, John Sims! We talk so much about our history and the fact that Cooper City is supposed to be ‘Someplace Special”, but this is not about our history. It's about our future. And our future is at a dangerous crossroad. “My interest is genuine. It has been proven time and time again that I am representing you and no one else.”

And so I ask you, the people of Cooper City, to think this through with me. In facing this decision to seek re-election, I seek your prayers and support. In making it, I have decided that my service to you is of the utmost importance, for this is a decision that will affect our city's well-being for years to come. As such, I want you to know that I have an unmistakable belief in my destiny…honest and dedicated public service.

I wish to thank all of you for the support, dedication and help in the past and in the future. We can only succeed if we all try together, and city hall is the place to start! Let me help you to continue to be successful and continue to maintain Cooper City as 'Someplace Special'!

Vote for John Sims on Election Day, November 4, 2014

What does the Proposed Budget do?

The 6 “C”’s of leadership are; Character, Commitment, Competence, Confidence, Conviction and Courage. The essence of good Government is that they are prepared to make difficult decisions to achieve long-term prosperity. What we have is a government that is out of control regarding the recent expenditures of taxpayer dollars, especially in the legal department, not to mention the lack of response by the city commission and the county to residents regarding the Palm Avenue project.  

Believe me when I tell you that all of us have heard just how poorly these issues have been managed, and how poorly the Mayor and the city attorney conducted themselves in the last few meetings. Their bizarre behavior is not associated with proper leadership and ethical, open government actions.

As far as our upcoming budget, (public workshops of which have already taken place as you read this) a 'balanced budget' is simply not my idea of true prosperity. Costs of Police & Fire are up, along with costs associated with our utilities infrastructure and employee benefits.

We must make deep cuts regarding waste and unnecessary spending in the proposed upcoming budget in order to put even more tax dollars back into the pockets of our families and businesses. We must drastically reduce the extreme operating costs of our local government and substantially increase its level of customer service.

I feel that our city must change their ‘spend it or lose it’ attitude and must immediately tighten their belt like all of us have had to do in the recent past. The question that all of us should be asking is “What does this proposed budget specifically do?” We just don’t know. There is a severe lack of backup material, in addition to a lack of real discussion and fiscal responsibility in the process.

 

As I see it, there are two steps that need to be taken regarding our commission. It is imperative that public officials be independent, impartial and that public office not be used for personal or political gain. As public officials, we are in a position of Public Trust and as such, we have a duty to provide transparent and honest services while in office and to do our absolute best to assure absolute public confidence in the government. This simply has not been the case in our city. The public’s trust is imperative and is determined by civic values such as open government, integrity and professionalism.

No one person or party can claim to have all of the answers. In the end we all must work together, residents and this administration alike, and the people must get what they have long demanded government to do. At the end of the day what we're doing is simply our job...public service. In this process, we've got to ensure that our tax dollars are spent very wisely and only on the bare necessities.

As long as we remember that we serve The People, and we work together to do what is right, not just talk about it, putting aside our petty personal and political differences, all of these goals that all of us share and dream of can be achieved as a house divided cannot stand. In public service it is always important to remember that we serve our boss, “We The People”.

Cooper City faces many challenges, and just as I have always maintained, my primary focus remains on reducing the burden of government on you and on small businesses, fighting the fraud and waste at all levels of government that waste your taxpayer dollars, continuing to lead our city in a positive direction, and to grow the entrepreneurial spirit that will improve our local economy which in turn, will create more local jobs. If there is anything I can help with or if you have any issues that need resolved, please feel free to contact me, your ‘Go To’ commissioner at 954-445-6997.

Davie/Cooper City New Red-Light Camera

Be careful when travelling westbound on Griffin Road at University Drive. There is a new Red-Light Camera there, just waiting for you to break the law...

Cooper City Election on Tuesday, Nov. 2nd, vote John Sims!

Why should you vote for me, John Sims, a True Fiscal Conservative?

I have consistently voted against higher taxes.
I have consistently voted against increased city budgets.
I have consistently supported and demanded a balanced budget and lower taxes for residents and business owners.
I have consistently maintained a posture of looking for ways to properly spend only spending taxpayer’s money, only when a need is clearly identified.
I have insisted upon a vetting process for every discretionary expenditure.
I have consistently voted in the best interest of our residents and business owners.
I have refused to vote for any expenditure that did not directly improve the services or quality of life in our city.
I have vigorously attempted to implement a local code of ethics, consistently rejecting the dirty politricks that have disgraced our city under the current leadership and by their candidates.
I have dedicated a tremendous amount of quality time and effort into our city in order to make it the best municipality in the county.
I have consistently supported our BSO police & fire, increasing our 'feet on the street'.
I have consistently supported our local business owners in every way possible in order to create jobs.
I have consistently worked to help our residents and business owners on a variety of issues and concerns, earning the title of your ‘Go To’ Commissioner in Cooper City.

A John Sims vote will:
Continue the fight for residents and businesses to keep more of their hard earned tax money.
Continue the focus on open, transparent government, excellence and accountability,
while fighting corruption.
Continue to protect your constitutional and property rights.
Continue to hold city hall accountable to you and your neighbors.
Continue to improve the city’s financial integrity and long term prosperity.

Government is unsustainable at its current pace at all levels: city, state and national. There are simply not enough revenues to cover the expenses and it’s getting worse. We, as a city, are then faced with 3 alternatives:

• Increase Revenues – taxes & fees, which I have refused to do because we simply do not need to do so in this recessed economy.
• Cut Expenditures – discretionary and wants vs. needs which I have consistently mandated.
• Become more efficient and customer friendly oriented in our operations, which I have consistently demanded.

If efficiency and a business like government is what is needed and demanded “By The People”, then I am the most qualified candidate in the race.

Bottom Line: It’s Your Tax Dollars, Your Hard Earned Money, Your City...Choose Wisely!

Keep Cooper City Commissioner John Sims

My fellow Cooper City Residents think seriously about the vote you will cast this Tuesday,
November 2 for Cooper City Commission.

Have you had enough of tax increases?

Have you had enough of water rate increases? (and...there are more to come)

Have you had enough of Assessment increases?

Have you had enough of your services being cancelled or cut back?

Have you had enough of awarding contracts or jobs to friends of city officials?

Have you had enough of the current TAX AND SPEND Commission?

Cooper City Residents, HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH...YET?

Help me continue the fight to end the waste of your hard earned taxpayer money!

Vote to Keep me, John Sims, your 'Go To' commissioner for District 1 and all of Cooper City!

Cooper City Budget Hearing on Monday and More...

I am writing this evening to urge all of you to attend Cooper City's first budget hearing, regarding the 2010-2011 budget, which is going to be held this coming Monday, September 13th at 6 PM, City Hall. We must all show up and reject the commission's inflated and pork filled budget!

Let me say this loud and clear...Your elected officials in Cooper City have been feeding our local residents and business owners the same ol’ ‘stuff’ for a long, long time. They call themselves ‘fiscally conservative’, yet our budget alone has grown $6.6 million over the last 5 years.

They talk about reducing waste and expenditures but they are actually cutting vital services and raising taxes, fees and assessments, and also controlling what the residents say while continuing to grow their political bureaucracy and their already inflated budget with even more unnecessary and wasteful ‘pork barrel’ spending.

They say that they are looking out for residents and business owners, but we know that they are taking care of themselves, and their self-serving political agendas with your hard earned money.

The wasteful spending must stop now! Attend the September 13th & 27th public budget hearing on the proposed 2010-2011 budget, millage rates and property taxes at city hall (6PM) and voice your concerns.

Here is just one example (and a fine one I might ad) of an open letter from a concerned resident, Edward Wooley, a smart and well seasoned individual, regardless of what those that tend to discount him say, with a Harvard MBA and a man who is an economist...

"YOUR BIGGEST TAX INCREASE IS COMING FROM YOUR COOPER CITY GOVERNMENT"

Yes, Cooper City is leading the tax hikes on your county tax notice! The Commission is proposing larger hits than the scandal-ridden school district and Broward County commission.

Proof? Like most of you, Broward County’s appraiser reduced my residence’s market value by 14% and State law increased my assessed values by 2.7%. That is typical. Here are the hard dollar numbers ranked by dollar increase for my home.

TAXES and FEES _____Tax Year_____________ Difference
______________2009____ 2010______$______%

Cooper City___ $1,206.87__$1,328.59__ $121.72_ 10.1
County Comm _$1,194.29__ $1,299.63__ $105.34_ 8.8
School district _$1,832.63__ $1,937.90__$105.27__5.7
Total _______$4,827.93___$5,214.26__$386.83_ 8.0
(small Items Not shown)

The biggest % increase in Cooper City’s taxes/fees is the Fire Assessment Fee—18.8% (and we don't even have a fire department!).

So, the big winners in the tax race seem to be our mayor and those commissioners and staff who are supporting such large increases. Remember, the cost of living index for property tax purposes is only 2.7%. Why is our city raising taxes by an additional 7.4%? Do you feel it is justified in these difficult economic times?

Think about the hurt to retirees on fixed incomes, to those living on social security, to the under and unemployed and to the residents living on modest incomes. For many, the impact can be the cost of two weeks of groceries or months of prescriptions. In these hard economic times, it is simply immoral to treat a large percentage of our neighbors this way. Particularly when it is not necessary to achieve a responsible city budget.

I urge you to let the Commission know quickly what you think about them being the tax champions. Contact info: mayor, commissioners and city manager
(954) 434-4300

Mayor: Mayor_eisinger@coopercityfl.org. Generally votes for $ tax increases

Mr. Curran: Commissioner_Curran@coopercityfl.org. Same as the Mayor

Mr. deJesus: Commissioner_dejesus@coopercityfl.org.
Has opposed some increases. Often open-minded. Fire fee sponsor

Ms. Mallozzi: Commissioner_Mallozzi@coopercityfl.org.
Opposed millage rate increase. Generally votes to raise city revenues. A leader in pushing for red light cameras.

Mr. Sims: Commissioner_Sims@coopercityfl.org.
Generally opposes tax and fee increases. Often the only one.

Mr. Loucks: Bloucks@coopercityfl,org. Proposes tax/fee increases in the budget.
City manager, no vote.

Respectfully, Ed Wooley Phone (954)433-1039 ed.wooley@comcast.net

Also, to add fuel to the fire, I had recently asked the commission to discuss the city attorney budget already over budget by approximately$72,000.00 as of last january, and the monthly billing on an average of approximately $27,000.00. The commission voted 4 to 1 NOT to address the potential overage of $180,000.00 for this year. Then the commission voted 3 to 2 to adjourn the meeting without giving me the opportunity to speak during the Commissioners Concerns. What does that tell you? Now we are in September and we have 'busted' the budget with 'rainmaker' attorney's fees!

In fact, we don't even have a year-end analysis of where we will end up as of September 31st, so how in the world can we know where to go from here? Take a look at the budget online here, and you tell me, what is it we need to cut? I can think of plenty of items, and I have already addressed them, that would in fact allow us to lower our taxes, but unfortunately, we are dealing with a commission who says it's a great budget...NOT!

Also, the Cooper City Civic Association Blog contains articles that will help inform and educate the city's residents about the budget and other issues that directly affect them, as well as their pocketbooks. Here is the link: http://coopercitycivicgroup.blogspot.com/

I want to also wish all of my Jewish friends, neighbors and the Jewish War Veterans 'L'shanah Tovah' and everyone a reverent Patriot Day. Please remeber those who died for your right to vote on November 2nd, and those who died on September 11th. We owe our freedoms to those heros, and I pray for their family and friends....

Please check out my website at http://www.keepsims.com/ or my facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/JohnBSims and I thank you for your donations, no matter how small, your valued support and vote on November 2nd.

Possible Cooper City Budget and Millage Rate Increase

These are three simple words posted on my blog that guide the job of a city commissioner.

• Policy - To do the job that I was elected to do, and that is serving you. I do not take information or staff recommendations that are provided to me at face value. Instead, I research the facts and attempt to find a better alternative or a more efficient methodology. I feel that my job as your representative is to improve our city’s quality of life, as opposed to taking the politically correct path of least resistance, or making decisions on your behalf in order to fulfill a personal or a political agenda.

• Vision - Working with our community and other true leaders, my job as your representative is to achieve a common goal of prosperity and success, both yours and that of our business owner’s, and keep the vision in continuing to keep Cooper City ‘Someplace Special’.

• Oversight - Oversight is the fiduciary responsibility to ensure our citizen’s money is well spent and accounted for on basic health, safety and welfare of the community. I take that responsibility very seriously as I strive to protect your hard earned tax-payer dollars. In that spirit, I look for facts and data to substantiate our City's proposed expenses. I ask a lot of questions, yet get very few really solid answers.

Regarding the 2010-2011 budget, the city has raised more revenue than expected and estimated more in expenses. The city consistently understates revenues and overstates expenses. This is not the time to be designing in cushions using your money, especially when so many of us need it to survive and pay our monthly expenses and mortgage.

It’s the time for bold honest truth. The city is not being candid, and should not be playing with other people’s money.

Again, no substantial efforts have been made to curtail discretionary spending. Last year when I asked our staff and directors to try to cut discretionary expenses by 10% I was responded to with a frivolous “we have to lay people off” mentality. Not so much as a simple executive summary of where we can look to cut expenses was provided. Just a “the sky is falling approach” to protecting the individual departmental budgets.

The are dozens of examples I can use to save money in this proposed budget which all add up to big tax dollars! We spend on bottled water while at the same time, we brag about how good our water is, and send out high gloss, multi page brochures instead of just posting it on our website. This is just one very insignificant example, but if you look at our budget online, I am sure you can find more pork than I have found to cut. The city needs to set the example!

I’m having difficulty seeing where the real priorities are. Are we really serving the community appropriately with this budget? I believe in, and strive daily for open, honest and transparent government. You deserve it!

This budget should reflect citizens’ priorities, not those of career politicians. Apparently the city does not perceive what the residents and business owners really want. What they want is reduced expenditures and less taxes. There is rampant unemployment, food has gone up, gas is up again, school supplies are up, over 400 foreclosures in our city as of last month…where does it end?

The increases suggested Monday for Citizens Property Insurance Co. would vary by location. In some parts of South Florida, prices could increase to almost 12 percent. We are facing another 2% Water rate hike in November 2010, a 12 to 15% FPL-Electricity rate hike, a 10% College tuition rate hike, the worst unemployment in the last 50-60 years, a 17% drop in school population per the CAFR, and alot more future increases in federal and state taxes and fees, many of which were supported by your city commissioners and Mayor.

If we don't stop spending on wants, not needs now, we will either have to raise taxes, or there will be some serious cuts to make. And...nothing can be held harmless in making those cuts. Every day we postpone acting decisively to rein in wasteful spending and cut discretionary expenses and the debt in Cooper City, we pile even more on the backs of thousands of young residents and many business owners.

We certainly have the ability to spend more wisely, yet we don’t. Just look at the past budgets, financial reports and workshop meetings. What have you demanded be cut, and it was actually cut? Some say the little things don’t matter in reducing expenditures, yet they add up quickly. We need to set the example and the little things add up to tens of thousands of dollars of your money.

The political establishment has kept costs and expenses up, not down. We simply need common sense solutions and minimal sacrifices to quality of life services. We need to re-establish the public trust which has been all but destroyed by this city commission.

This is not “my” city or money but “OUR” city and money! How the city performs its duties along with how “OUR” money is allocated and spent should be transparent and available to everyone.

Your city commission is NOT cutting the budget but inflating it, NOT reducing fees and taxes but possibly raising them, with little or no follow-up on commission directives of the recent past.

It is time to stop the unnecessary spending, and reduce the city’s inflated budget.

Tell your City Commissioner’s to stop wasting your tax dollars. As your commissioner, and as I have done in previous years, I will vote NO on the proposed budget if I see continued waste and unnecessary or excessive expenditures in our budget that are not immediately cut. The city needs to manage their money like you and I have had to do in this recession laden economy.

Tell your City Commissioner’s not to raise the millage rate cap tomorrow night (Special Meeting at 6 PM, City Hall), and to realize that the taxpayer is not an endless stream or source of money to be wasted by them. I will vote NO if the millage rate cap is raised.

Email your city commissioners and say NO to new taxes and an increased budget!

If the city commission indeed raises the millage rate cap and adopts the budget as proposed, all I have to say is "Thank you for helping the Cooper City economy struggle."