Meet the Candidate: Glen Cummins

With the exception of Mayor Gene Hobgood, challengers have stepped up to unseat every Canton City Council member up for re-election.

River Green resident Glen Cummins is one of them. Monday, he filed paperwork to challenge .

Cummins, 70, submitted background information to Canton-Sixes Patch today.

• Glen Cummins
  
  • Professional background: "I have a B.S. degree in business administration from Syracuse University. I have over 30 years of experience managing technology and administrative services departments for major corporations and for an agency of the U.S. government. My last corporate employer was Schering Plough (1982–1989). I was promoted three times, last to senior director information resources. In that capacity, I managed a $13 million budget and over 140 information technology personnel for the Maybelline, Dr. Scholls and Plough corporations. Upon retirement from the corporate world, I founded Compass Systems Corporation, a specialty software service business. As president and CEO (1989–1999), I built the business from scratch to over $3 million in annual revenues. I sold my 50 percent share of the business and retired in 1999."
  • Government-related experience: Technology section chief, European Stars and Stripes, a military newspaper and agency of the U.S. government (1971-1976); city council member, Indian Harbour Beach, FL (1981-1982; served until I had to relocate due to an employment change).
  • Why you're running for council: "Canton has the potential to be one of the best 100 cities in the U.S. to live. It needs a visionary decisive government to achieve that status. Canton has many issues that require problem solving and decision making skills. A sense of urgency needs to be applied to the issues at hand and intuitive skills are required for making decisions that affect the future. I have those skills and I am at the stage in life where I want to give back to the city in which I reside. I am not accepting any political contributions."
  • Your plan to move Canton forward: "I am a strong proponent of controlled business growth to increase the tax base. But, as a realist, I recognize that we are in a period of stagnant growth and must implement frugality and control over spending so that the revenues we collect will go farther. Canton has a multitude of issues. Many of these issues are not new; they have been discussed and re-discussed but they have not been resolved. I intend to use my skills as a problem solver working with the other council members to arrive at timely, well thought out decisions. The reservoir is just one piece of the puzzle. The water and sewer treatment plant issues must also be taken into consideration. Before deciding to sell or not sell the reservoir, you must first clarify the objective. I see the objective stated simply as: the city of Canton has an obligation to make sure that reliable water and sewer services, at a reasonable cost, are provided to its citizens.  This is not only a current obligation of the city, but one that extends into the future. All options available to the city should be analyzed and any option that does not meet the objective should be eliminated. My preference would be to keep the reservoir, but if keeping it means that we can’t meet the objective, then the sale must be considered." 
  • Campaign website: www.electglencummins.com

Click to learn more about four other candidates for mayor and city council, then stay tuned to canton-ga.patch.com for your Election 2011 updates.