I have been watching Dunkirk’s fiscal struggles with great interest. As a former mayor of the city, current businessperson who has significantly invested in Dunkirk and a current candidate for Chautauqua County clerk I am passionate about finding a solution.

There certainly are reasons to be against the $13.7 million loan and they have been pointed out. I also understand why Mayor Kate Wdowiasz wants to take on that loan and the challenge of restoring fiscal responsibility to Dunkirk.

Neither solution is perfect. I for one did not want to see a control board introduced in the city. It will essentially replace local government and with that the will of its citizens. A control board will slash and cut without emotion or full consideration of how those cuts affect Dunkirk and Northern Chautauqua residents. At the end of the day they will have stripped down services but the needed structural change will not have occurred.

If Dunkirk accepts the loan without structural change it will be putting a band aid over a wound that is hemorrhaging.

My campaign has focused on three main issues. The first has nothing to do with this issue as it is focused on the duties of the county clerk and how to be efficient, increase revenue and improve the delivery of services the office manages. The other two areas are directly related to finding the solution. The need for structural change and civility in government and throughout society. We need to treat every challenge as an opportunity. We need to take all the issues that have stopped change, efficiency and growth and know we can find a way to work through them and find a positive solution.

I suggest that Dunkirk accepts the loan under one condition. That condition is to set up its own advisory committee that has full access to Dunkirk’s finances, department heads and elected officials. The committee has to be made up of a cross section of people from all parties and hopefully most will have some experience with government or operating a business.

It can be put together several ways but this is how I would get 11 concerned citizens that are appointed as follows: Three appointed by the mayor; two by the Council and they must be appointed by a unanimous vote, two appointed by the County Executive; one from unanimous consent from the three county legislators from Dunkirk, and 1 each by Gov. Kathy Hochul, state Sen. George Borello and Assemblyman Andrew Molitor. That gets us to 11 and should be folks who hold community trust, live(d) and/or work(ed) in Dunkirk and are prepared to have an open mind. They must be willing to be civil to their fellow committee members, citizens and employees that they interact with. All this will be done in the open with full transparency.

I hope these appointments are made based on merit and all appointed must be willing to give up a significant amount of time to serve properly. We certainly will have our first opportunity to judge our elected leaders by whom they appoint. The Mayor and council must be prepared to listen to the advisory committee and their reaction to the recommendations offered will give voters another opportunity to judge if they have the courage and leadership to make the necessary changes for their survival.

I don’t have all the answers but I am confident that our community can find them. The issues facing Dunkirk, and quite frankly Fredonia (I would love to see Fredonia adopt this same type group and have suggested that to the mayor), are serious and need to be dealt with by serious people.

We can be the catalyst for positive change. Business as usual cannot be the best we can do. We can be the beacon that shows the way to a successful transition from a community on the verge of disaster to the proud, successful community we know we can be.

Let’s give the community a chance to help … it would be a giant leap to restoring faith in our government and our elected officials. It would give the business community confidence to invest. Let’s give the people of Dunkirk the change we need and the progress they deserve.

Greg Krauza is a Fredonia resident.