By Ed Somers
January 11, 2010

Burnsville (MN) Mayor Elizabeth B. Kautz was inaugurated as the 68th President of The United States Conference of Mayors in a ceremony held January 5 in her city's new Performing Arts Center.

Over 400 people attended the inauguration from the metro area, including a large number of regional mayors.

The special event took place due to the fact that former USCM President Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels was defeated in his most recent mayoral election, and his term as mayor ended on January 2. Kautz was the Vice President of the Conference of Mayors and under the USCM Constitution, when the current President is no longer mayor; the Vice President automatically becomes President.

Kautz will serve the balance of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickel's term, which would have ended in June 2010, and then serve a full term of her own as President of the organization until June 2011.

On behalf of the Executive Committee and the membership of the Conference, USCM CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran passed the gavel and introduced Kautz as the new President of The U.S. Conference of Mayors at the ceremony. In his comments, Cochran thanked the citizens of Burnsville for "giving to The U.S. Conference of Mayors the gift of Elizabeth Kautz."

As President, Kautz will preside over all official meetings and execute the bipartisan political agenda adopted by the nation's mayors, appoint committee and task force chairs, and will be the global and national spokesperson for the USA mayors' organization.

Kautz was first elected Burnsville's mayor in 1994 and has been re-elected five times since. Kautz will be the fifth woman President in the history of The U.S. Conference of Mayors. Mayors Helen Boosalis of Lincoln Nebraska, Kathy Whitmire of Houston, Deedee Corradini of Salt Lake and Beverly O'Neill of Long Beach, each served one term respectively. Due to her immediate succession next week, Kautz will be the longest serving woman President in the organization's 78-year history.

Kautz said a major thrust of her presidency would be to promote policies that strengthen America's metro economies. Building on the metro work that USCM has done over the past ten years, the mayor said, "As we work to create jobs and emerge from this economic recession, the simple fact is that we will only achieve lasting success by focusing on those metropolitan economies. We must honestly discuss the kind of policies and investments that are needed for them to thrive in the modern world economy."

Kautz also stressed the need for partnership in promoting a new metro-focused national agenda, saying, "Mayors and corporate leaders have come to realize, more than we ever thought possible, that we are indeed in this together. If there is a lack of business investment and political support there won't be good jobs, nor will there be the revenue to support public services. But without cities and the rest of the public sector doing our part and doing it well, we will lack the infrastructure, skilled workforce, and lifestyle amenities that businesses need to succeed."

"By the time we arrive at the USCM Annual Conference in June, my goal is to be able to submit to my colleagues a specific plan of action for how America's mayors – in partnership with business leaders and CEOs – can deepen our research on the value of the metropolitan economies and broaden our coalition in support of federal investment policies that will strengthen those economies," Kautz stated.

In support of the metro agenda, the mayor said that during her first months as President, USCM would be focused on three federal priority issues.

"First, we will continue to push the Congress to enact meaningful energy and climate legislation and fight to make sure that it continues to support the Energy Block Grant program," Kautz stated.

Her second priority will be to "build a broad coalition for a new sustainable transportation policy that invests in metropolitan economies. Our nation's surface transportation law… must be written in a way that supports smart, sustainable transportation investments directly in the metro areas, and does not simply send the majority of funding through the states."

Related to this area, Kautz said, is the need to increase access to broadband communications.

"Third, we will focus on creating jobs for all the unemployed and underemployed Americans that are so desperate to work and be a part of the American dream. The U. S. House has passed an important Jobs Package that contains many of the mayor's priorities. But our leadership will be needed over the next month to make sure that the Senate also acts, and that the final bill supports the right investments to strengthen our metro economies," the mayor concluded.