For all the incredible people who worked so hard on my mayoral campaign, thank you from the bottom of my heart. For all the wonderful contributors who gave for what was truly a grass-roots effort, thank you from the bottom of my heart. And for all the great folks who turned out to vote to help bring a much-needed change to the old system, you’re the greatest!

And in fact this past election did bring to the fore issues and problems that have been festering for years, and the terrible cost they will bring to all of us.

Luckily for us, a majority of the City Council now understand or are beginning to understand just how deep and entrenched the system has become. By acting boldly and decisively, they have finally made the transition away from the old strongman mayor/weak council arrangement that proved you should never have too much power concentrated in one position. Now that the old has been supplanted by a new paradigm, I would ask a favor of the new, stronger council.

Would you please authorize a comprehensive outside audit? Whenever a business is in crisis (as we are) and a new board of directors takes charge, a complete accounting is in order. We know that our financial data regarding debt, bill payment, revenue stream, utility infrastructure, and — my favorite — a “surplus” concocted of borrowed money have been, at the very least, often confusing and questionable. How can you not want to have a total and unbiased outside assessment of where we are from top to bottom?

The idea of piling an additional revenue burden onto a citizenry already reeling from the economic downturn, huge insurance increases and significant property tax hikes is absurd unless you are first able to make a full assessment of the problem.

And what about all the lawsuits? Not only could they cost us a fortune in settlement, just litigating them takes nearly three-quarters of a million dollars a year. When are we going to standardize the rules so that they apply to everyone equally? I can promise you this: If you insist on treating everyone equally on the basis of a solid, comprehensive set of rules, you will substantially reduce and may even (if you are diligent) altogether eliminate lawsuits. This alone would save us millions of dollars.

Please direct and focus your newfound goals toward first analyzing the problem. In my opinion, it is irresponsible to just add new revenue sources when the present crisis makes it imperative that you make every effort to solve the problems internally before telling us we need to shell out more taxes, fee increases and money many of us don’t have.

Statistics from public input at the recent Civic Center hearing showed 80 percent of the speakers were opposed to new revenue. Most of us have had to cut back and look for ways to be more efficient with less income; why can’t you?

Dean Mosher, a Fairhope resident for 35 years, has chaired numerous committees and boards. He currently serves as vice president of the Fairhope Single Tax Corp. and is a professional artist known worldwde for his epic historical paintings.