By Ed Somers
June 28, 2010

Conference of Mayors President Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth B. Kautz urged Washington to do more to help Main Street recover and create jobs in her report to the nation during the 78th Annual Conference of Mayors in Oklahoma City that ran June 11-14.

Kautz was completing the term of former USCM President Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, and will now serve her term as President until June 2011.

"As important as the stimulus bill was to saving our national economy — more could have been done to help Main Street save and create jobs through our contracts with the private sector if the funding had been sent directly to our cities rather than through the states," Kautz said.

She added that, "Every mayor has heard from our local small businesses — who desperately need access to capital." Kautz referenced a February 2010 USCM meeting with Small Business Administrator Karen Mills about proposals to expand credit limits to meet these needs, saying "We want to continue working with her and her staff to get the word out to our businesses."

During her address, Kautz released an update to the 2010 Metro Agenda for America, and reviewed both the progress made since its release in January, and the further work that is needed.

On the issue of jobs, Kautz thanked the mayors who have helped secure 163 cosponsors in the House for the Local Jobs for America Act, which would provide $75 billion directly to cities to help re-hire and retain needed employees.

In addition, Senators Sherrod Brown (OH), Al Franken (MN) and Mark Begich (AK) introduced a companion bill on June 15 (S. 3500), and the push is now underway to secure Senate cosponsors.

But, as Kautz said, "Washington remains conflicted on what they should be doing to help cities save jobs, and the path forward for these bills is less than certain… So we need to up the ante, and continue to remind both Congress and the White House of the real pain happening in cities across our country."

On the issue of energy security, Kautz urged the mayors to continue the all-out effort to fund the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant.

Kautz thanked Speaker Pelosi for saying in January during the USCM Winter Meeting that funding for the block grant would be "annual and more forthcoming."

But she reminded the mayors that, "The Obama Administration's budget contains no funding for our energy block grant for this coming year… And on top of that, Senators Kerry and Lieberman did not include our energy block grants in their initial proposal for their American Power Act."

"The fact is that our nation cannot achieve energy security unless it provides us the tools we need to drive local innovation," Kautz added.

Kautz thanked key champions working to include EECBG funding in pending energy and appropriations bills including Speaker Pelosi, Representative Chaka Fattah (PA), and Senators Robert Menendez (NJ), Bernie Sanders (VT) and Mark Begich (AK).

In addition to the two top issues, Kautz thanked mayors for their leadership on several recent victories.

"Because of leaders like Mayor Tom Leppert of Dallas, we were able to stop the Federal Communications Commission from moving forward with a plan that would have limited our management of rights-of-ways and cost our cities millions of dollars," Kautz said.

She also congratulated Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who led the USCM effort to secure passage of the Travel Promotion Act.

Moving forward, Kautz urged that the mayors stay focused on a number of other priorities.

In that Congress has delayed action on a new surface transportation bill, Kautz said that the mayors must "use this extra time to build a consensus for a new system that funds cities and metro areas directly, and promotes sustainable alternatives like transit and high-speed rail."

"We also need Washington to recognize the trillions of dollars that need to be invested in water infrastructure in the coming years, and the negative impact that inflexible unfunded mandates continue to have on our cities," she said.

And, "The failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner above Detroit, and the Times Square attempted bombing highlight the need for additional resources, and even better communications between all levels of government," Kautz added.

Mayors Respond to BP Oil Disaster

In concluding her remarks, Kautz addressed the USCM response to the growing BP oil disaster.

"To all of you who may be impacted, please know that The U.S. Conference of Mayors — and your colleagues across the nation — stand ready to help you in any way we can."

To that end, USCM held an emergency meeting and phone call with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson on June 14 in Oklahoma City, during which Kautz announced that she would be leading a USCM delegation to meet with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and other impacted gulf area mayors on June 20.