My Pledge To You
“it finally dawned on me; I’m in the hot seat now.”
I was officially sworn-in as a member of the Florence City Council on November 12th, 2020. During my recitation of the oath of office, it finally dawned on me; I’m in the hot seat now. For years, I’ve always been the guy shaking my head at the rather slow progression of the change I wanted to see in my community. I would stay up late at night reading blogs and policy briefings from various think tanks, trying to conceptualize the perfect plan of action on how to move a city forward and do it so that everyone felt included. Like most people, I always felt that those in power were not doing enough; well, at least not fast enough. Now, I find myself in that same hot seat.
The campaign mode is now over, and we now move towards governance. And although I’m young, energetic, and optimistic about Florence's future, I’m also a realist. I understand that everyone is not so enthused about the new City Council. Some feel that we may bring “big city ideas” to ruin the momentum and progress the City has witnessed thus far. Some consider withholding their private investments within the City of Florence until they can rest assured: “we don’t mess everything up.” Although I'm afraid I have to disagree with their predictions, I understand their position surprisingly enough. This new council is essentially a blank canvass, left to everyone’s interpretation of our intent. We’ve yet to show our ability to work together to continue to move this City forward nor our inability to the contrary, so it’s merely human nature.
As I stated earlier, I’m a realist. I understand that the shift from campaigning to governance will create a new learning curve for me. I accept that challenge, and if you know me personally, you wouldn’t expect anything less.
Lastly, as a millennial elected official, I’m seeking to find ways to communicate with Florence's citizens. Local elected officials are not given the huge microphone that the national elected officials are afforded, so it may seem that you only hear from the local officials when it’s election time. I pledge my best efforts to have an open dialogue with you throughout my tenure on the council. I’m going to try this platform out as a form of communication to inform the citizens of our progress. I plan to be an accessible councilman who will seek to understand every aspect of an issue before deciding on it. So if you would like, you can email me at cmccall@cityofflorence.com or call me at (843) 758–4826 to contact me directly.
