Mayor-elect David Stover, who will be sworn in Tuesday, has already started to focus on the budget, the top priority of his campaign.
Stover said last week he has instructed aldermen to start forming ward committees, or groups of ward residents that will work with aldermen to set city priorities, so the committees can start discussing the 1998 budget, which Stover plans to have prepared by Oct. 1.
He said the committees should be up and running by May 1, so they can immediately begin review of a five-year capital plan, a process initiated by Mayor David Pierce.
Stover, who criticized Pierce for not seeking enough community input, championed the ward committees during his campaign. He said they would give residents more say in what goes on at City Hall.
Stover plans to approve the 1998 budget by mid-November, many months earlier than in previous years, a proposal he conceded was ambitious.
