By Tom McClimon
February 6, 2006

Mayors of state capital cities gathered during the Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting to discuss common areas of interest and to develop their agenda for the upcoming year. Meeting under the leadership of Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo and Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie, the mayors met in a formal way for the first time in over a decade.

Facing many of the same issues that the predecessors did, the mayors decided to renew their efforts to share information and ideas. Getting more financial aid from the state government for their cities was the top concern. The mayors shared ideas such as Frankfort’s program that taxes the payroll of all Kentucky state employees to Trenton’s program that provides over $16 million in direct state aid to the New Jersey city.

Other issues discussed by the mayors included ways to develop better relations with state legislatures such as through Tallahassee’s welcoming receptions for state legislators to Oklahoma City’s program to welcome new state cabinet officials.

The mayors decided to meet again at the Conference’s upcoming Annual Meeting in Las Vegas and to develop a matrix of state programs that are available to assist state capital cities.