David Narkewicz was first elected in 2011 and served as the Northampton mayor for the past decade. In December 2020, David announced that he will not run in the upcoming 2021 November election in order to give candidates time to strategize.
Running a City or Town is likened to being a CEO of a corporation. In fact, Cities and Towns are “incorporated” meaning they are a corporate business structure essentially having all the advantages as a business already. For example, with an annual revenue of just over $100MM USD, Northampton can now incorporate and initiate the Initial Public Offering (IPO) process. An IPO in this case is a public entity offering shares to public investors to raise capital. If we maintain this awareness and transition this strategy into the fiscal year 2021, Northampton’s sustainability goals will essentially catapult into perpetuity.
The comparable, thriving, cultural hub of Nashville, Tennessee, with similar geography, resources, and natural resources including a meandering river and notes of fertile agricultural lands has recently transitioned into an IPO with an initial offer of twenty-five dollars per share. Northampton can implement a similar model should the majority choose to do so. Endless resources such as local attorneys, stockbrokers as well as the academics at the Isenberg School of Management and throughout the Valley can advise the City on how to develop and implement processes and a similar model.
This fortunate opportunity is now an option because everyone, including David Narkewicz, the City Council, the City departments and their employees, committee members, business owners, registered voters and the taxpayers alike, have worked hard to perfectly position the City in this manner. In FY2020 there was a total revenue of $100,658,857 and the City managed to maintain $100MM through to the FY2021 approved budget in order to be an attractive investment. Criteria for an IPO is a $100 MM USD valuation.
The City of Northampton would continue to run as efficiently as it has been in the past with the current departments, mayoral-appointed committees and government processes. The city council would continue to serve within the wards, precincts and neighborhoods. This secure, sustained, gradual growth economic plan will generate a substantial amount of revenue and potentially double much as did for Nashville. Furthermore, through these increased revenues, Northampton could confidently make improvements to the infrastructure, contribute and lead the area’s economic development, pay off debt such as bonds and will significantly contribute to our on-going fiscal responsibilities.
Although, Northampton is successfully advancing through the incorporation of 5G broadband cellular network technology, the underground utilities, roads and sidewalk infrastructure has shown signs of deferred maintenance especially in comparison to the Scandinavian countries which have beautiful bike paths, signage for safety and other traffic calming devices.
It is true, that most everyone wants to keep Western, Massachusetts a secret and are possibly alluding to the fact that they don’t want drastic change. However, conscious change and growth is inevitable for the sustainability of future generations. Thorough Northampton’s Smith College and the other four colleges academia, research resources, environmental and economic development planning, Northampton will be able to attract more world-wide talent and offer additional resources for the on-going academic research. With that, Northampton is guaranteed its continued success.
#Municipalities #IPO #Mayor #NorthamptonMA #DavidNarkewicz #EconomicDevelopment #Planning #FiveColleges #SmithCollege #MountHolyoke #HampshireCollege #ISOM
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