Pendleton needs new leader

Over our seven years of ownership of The Pendleton Café and Coffees, Josann and I saw a rise in our customer base as we built our business and then a steady decline. Businesses would come and go on the square. When we had a lot of vacant store fronts and businesses going out, our mayor and administrator would say that there was not much, if anything, they could do about this from a city government perspective.

Pendleton enacted a hospitality tax around 2005 and is collecting around $50,000 a year under this tax. You pay 2 percent for this when you eat in Pendleton. It has helped with capital improvements that the town’s general fund could not afford but little, if any, in the way of increased tourism or visitors.

Our town is missing out on many opportunities. Networking with other towns, attending town administrative forums, attending citizen and group meetings, researching what other towns are doing in the way of grants, and creating a viable business plan are just a few.

It is our town’s responsibility to create the conditions that small businesses like mine can succeed in, if the business owners are doing their part.

Pendleton needs a new leader who

can take a vision and turn it into a reality.

Randy Hayes, who has planned economic development as a key platform point in the race for mayor, will take us to the next level and turn a vision into reality for Pendleton, our hometown.

Dennis Thomas, Pendleton