BY JIMMY LAWTON

North Country This Week

OGDENSBURG -- Republican Robert Edie, an employee at FX Caprara, Ogdensburg, says attracting businesses and revitalizing the city would be top priorities if elected to council.

Edie, a Republican, says the city council needs fresh ideas and he hopes to bring some to the table.

“I’m running because if you’ve been listening to everything for the past couple years, it’s frustrating. If you want to make changes you need to make your voice heard,” he said.

Edie says he’s well aware of the split between city council members that often ends in 4-3 vote, but says he’s not interested in choosing sides. Edie believes the city has made tough choices in the past few years and he sees both sides of the issues.

In regard to deep cuts made by the majority of council that have led to community division, Edie says he falls somewhere in the middle.

“Nobody wants anyone to lose their jobs. I don’t think anyone on council wants to see that,” he said. “I also know that nobody wants to pay more taxes.”

Edie said he’d like to see the city be able to add back jobs in the future, but for now he thinks maintaining police and fire department staff at current levels is essential.

“I don’t think we can cut them anymore,” he said. “I’d like to restore jobs but you can’t get blood from a stone. If we can get more revenue I think we can get to a point where we can cut costs without cutting staff.”

Edie says it’s long past time for the city to look for new revenue sources. He said interest in the Diamond National site is great news, but that the city needs to generate similar interest in the Shade Roller site as well.

“We need to look at all avenues to generate revenue and we need to balance our services based on that,” he said. “We have to be more appealing to businesses. We have to be more business friendly.”

He said the city’s recent move to push property tax jurisdiction over to the county could be major cost savings for the city. He said the county has proven it’s capable of auctioning and selling properties and while Ogdensburg can do it, they don’t do it as well.

“If we are both doing it, and they do it better than why not let them handle it,” he said.

Edie said that while he’s been lumped in as supporting the majority council he says he plans to come in with an open mind.

“I have a 100 percent outside view. I’m not swayed either way. If an idea is great I’m going to support it. It doesn’t matter who brings it forward,” he said.

Edie says the constant fighting between council members is a distraction that the city needs to get past.

“If everybody is going to be saying I’m right, you’re wrong, nobody is going to get anywhere,” he said. “It shouldn’t be about who dislikes who, unfortunately that’s what we have going on right now. It’s like a high school mentality.”