Incumbent Bobby Coleman running on his record

ALBANY — For incumbent Ward II Albany City Commissioner Bobby Coleman, figuring out government is not that difficult. In fact, Coleman has simplified the equation for service on the city government to what he calls the “4 C’s.”

“Any long-term strategy plan for government must include the four C’s: commitment, communication, compromise and collaboration,” Coleman, a non-emergency medical transport professional, said. “To learn that, I knew I had to empower myself. I did that by going to Washington, D.C., every year and to other conferences in Atlanta. One of the benefits of those travels is that I found that Albany is not unlike all the other cities across the country.

“There are 560 cities in Georgia and 159 counties. The common thread running through all of them is that they all have economic challenges, they have blight and plight. By talking with other officials, I’ve been able to become part of a network of officials who share their issues as well as its best practices.”

Coleman said he’s proud of his first term in office, and he encourages voters in Ward II to consider his record while listening to the five candidates seeking the seat he currently holds.

“I’ve heard a lot of ‘I-isms’ during this campaign from people who have no experience in government,” he said. “It’s a matter of record that I always talk about the collective we. And by the ‘collective we,’ I mean the citizens of this community that elect us. I’ve always said a rising tide lifts all boats, but everyone has to have a boat to be in it. A city can’t move forward working for a selective group. I always come down on the side of the masses.

“I am by no means ‘Captain Save-the-City,’ but I have been through the learning curve and figured out how government works. And I’ve figured out my colleagues that I work with on the commission. Anybody who thinks they can go into government without that learning curve, that their one vote is going to make all the difference, well, I want to sell that person the Flint River. They’re fooling themselves.”

Coleman said he now takes pains not to talk negatively about the city. In holding to that dictate, he focuses on the “good things” that the city has going for it.

“One of the greatest thing about Albany is its learning institutions,” he said. “I mean, look at the spectacular job Albany Technical College is doing in preparing people for jobs. And that 4C (Commodore Conyers College & Career) Academy is going to have a huge impact on our high school-age kids.

“We also have a median temperature of around 65 degrees year-round, and you can’t say enough about the benefits of having our ample water supply.”

Coleman admits that he is not one for sugarcoating his comments.

“Look, I believe in telling my constituents what I can and can’t do,” he said. “I’m never afraid to tell someone when I don’t know something. But what I do know is who to talk to in the city to address a constituent’s issues. I’m not an engineer, but if someone has a problem that requires an engineer I can have an engineer meet them. If there is trash issue, I can have our solid waste personnel meet them at the site.”

Coleman has been an outspoken proponent of working with representatives of other agencies — especially with his counterpart on the Dougherty County Commission, Clinton Johnson — to meet citizens’ needs in the city. Collaboration, he said, is one of the most vital of the four C’s.

“Look at an issue like economic development,” he said. “That’s an issue that traverses the city; it transcends race, transcends socioeconomics, transcends education level. Until we get collaboration throughout all agencies, we’re not going to have the kinds of success we need.”

Coleman says he welcomes the challenge of the four who qualified to run against him in the Nov. 7 election.

“That’s what our government is about,” he said. “Everyone who can qualify has a right to run. I don’t take this honor of representing the people of Ward II lightly. It’s a true privilege. But I still have no strings attached to me. I won’t sell my soul for anybody. That’s why I’m not focusing on who I’m running against. I’m focusing on what I’m running for.”