2022/05/24 - Mayor's Column: Mayors
“AN OPEN DOOR TO O’FALLON”
A WEEKLY NOTE FROM MAYOR HERB ROACH
During the last election cycle, there was a tremendously large amount of City Mayors that decided not to rerun for office. This was seen in elections across the country and here locally. Here in our area, there was over 50% turnover in Mayors in communities. Many of those because the individuals said, ‘I’ve had enough.’ Last fall, the University of Oklahoma State conducted a study on what was creating this and why many elected positions went unfilled at election time.
At the start of the study, many believed that fewer people wanted to get involved in local government because of social media; where people can say anything with no proof whatsoever and not have to even use their own name. Or that people didn’t want to deal anymore with the ramifications of the COVID regulations.
So, the University reached out to over 3,000 Mayors from cities of 10,000 or more in population across the country. They have just announced the findings from their study.
The study showed concerning levels of abuse faced by U.S. mayors. The study stated that 94.5% of the mayors reported psychological violence at least once, with 24.2% reporting at least one threat and 15.8% suffering physical violence. These numbers are up over 23% from 2017.
When our country needs the best leadership that it can get at all levels of government, these types of actions don’t encourage good people to want to get involved. If this is happening with mayors, I imagine that it is happening at other levels as well.
I personally don’t know of any elected official that I have agreed with on every vote or every position that they have taken. I generally try to look at their total body of work.
We all have the right and privilege to question our elected officials and furnish them with information on our position on a given piece of legislation. But to threaten them or try to coerce them because we don’t like their decision isn’t right. Remember you always can elect someone that you think can do a better job.
Why should a good person that wants to get involved for the right reasons, subject themselves and possibly family members to the various forms of abuse?
As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something I care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open.