Bellis makes mayoral bid official
December 16, 2008
By Edward Husar
Dave Bellis formally
launched his campaign for mayor of
After filing his petitions to seek the Republican
nomination for mayor in the Feb. 24 primary, Bellis
met with a large group of supporters at the Granite Bank Gallery to kick off
his campaign and spell out some of his ideas for
The 49-year-old owner of Dave Bellis
Construction served on the Adams County Board for nearly six years until he
resigned this summer after moving out of his district. He now wants to
challenge Democratic incumbent
"The present administration has done a
respectable job, but it is time for a change," Bellis
said. "Sometimes we reach a comfort level in what we are doing. I think
Bellis said he wants "to start building the foundation of a
strong community" by taking over the reins as mayor.
He said he would start by implementing some small
changes, such as saying the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer before each City
Council meeting. But he also would like to explore some big, bold ideas,
including a proposal to turn over the city's sewage treatment operation to a
contractor who could then sell the city's sewage for profit.
"It would be turned into a renewable
resource," he said.
One of Bellis' most
ambitious proposals calls for studying a possible partnership with
"The jail that we have is just totally unsafe
for our (county) employees," he said.
"I know that there's
some concerns with the Quincy Police Department being in the basement at City
Hall. They've outgrown that space, and I think we can combine the two in one
building. That way, we wouldn't be duplicating some of the jobs" handled
by the two law enforcement agencies.
Bellis was critical of the city's handling of disciplinary action
taken against three firefighters and three nonunion city employees in the past
14 months, a situation that resulted in more than $400,000 in expenses, mainly
for legal fees.
"The amount of time, effort and most of all
the gross amount of money spent on this issue has been quite an embarrassment
-- and black eye -- to our community," Bellis
said. "We need to rebuild the morale of our team of top-notch
firefighters."
At a news conference this morning, Bellis said he would have handled the firefighter situation
differently by having a more "open door" policy to help resolve
employee-related problems earlier.
"We would have been in there right from the
beginning. I think it drug out way too long," he said.
Bellis said he talked with a couple of the firefighters involved
in the case. "They stressed their concern that the doors were shut and
they weren't allowed to go in and talk to the mayor and work things out before
it got blown up," he said. "There were six families in the city that
their names were just drug through the mud for no reason. It could have been
stopped way early."
Bellis said he wants to become mayor because he enjoys serving
the public. In addition to being on the
"My interest in the well-being of our
community has continued to grow through the years, and this has led me to the
decision to run for mayor of
Bellis, who appeared at Monday's campaign kickoff with his wife, Carri, and their three children, spoke about several other
topics:
* On
* He would "look into" the possibility
of eliminating the need for residents to put 50-cent stickers on garbage bags.
* He would work with local businesses and
industries "to keep the jobs we currently have and to stimulate growth for
the future."
* He chastised Spring for accepting campaign
contributions from sources in