Did Alexander Prove his Mayoral Qualifications in His Term on the Council?

We've been sharing individual questions from a candidate forum held in early October that featured the three Mayoral candidates: incumbent Jack Batchelor and challengers Steve Alexander and Michael Ceremello.

The forum was hosted by the Governmental Affairs Committee of the Dixon Chamber of Commerce. Here is one of the questions: 

Mr. Alexander, you mentioned balancing the budget and transparency. What did you do to balance the budget or provide transparency during your four years on the council?

Alexander: "Of the 5 of us, I was the only council member at the time who proposed to consolidate the economic development department, parks and recreation, and the community development division because I knew we would be cutting hundreds of thousands of dollars. I even proposed to eliminate the City Clerk position and bring in two part timers.

Some people will tell you I was so against the salaries and high cost of pension in this town that right before I got elected, the City ram-rodded through and enhanced retirement plan within a month and half of me taking office from 2 percent to 2.5 percent. 

I harped and harped on the city to upgrade its website. It took the whole four-years to get a website that was up and running and had the information on it, and I'm glad to say the four years I've been off the council they have upgraded the website to the 21st century."

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Note: Lindsey Hickman is the daughter-in-law of City Countil candidate Ted Hickman, who is not a part of the mayoral race.