Duncan Harrison Announces Plan to Make City Government Work for Trentonians

TRENTON, NJ—Councilman-at-Large and candidate for Mayor Duncan Harrison today announced his plan to make Trenton’s municipal government more transparent and accountable to Trentonians. Harrison’s plan focuses on improving access to government officials, providing better training for City employees, and ensuring that everyone who works in City Hall is well-qualified and held accountable to provide the best service for Trenton.

“City Hall has let Trentonians down too many times. That cannot continue,” Harrison stated, “We will never make bold change in Trenton if the people who call this city home cannot trust their leaders. As Mayor, I am going to make sure City Hall is accessible, efficient, and ready to provide the high-quality, professional service Trentonians deserve.”

Harrison is uniquely qualified to make the bold changes City Hall needs. He earned a Master’s in Public Administration as a National Urban Fellow. As the Associate Executive Director of UIH Family Partners, Harrison leads a major nonprofit that focuses on strengthening families in Trenton. He also serves as Councilman-at-Large, where he has worked with the Trenton Police Department to cut down on gun violence, coordinated with the Department of Public Works to get litter off Trenton’s streets, and led the budget negotiations that transformed Trenton’s deficit into a surplus for the first time in years.

Harrison knows the difficulties Trentonians face dealing with City Hall. When City Hall fails, everything from getting a pothole filled to paying property taxes to opening a small business becomes a chore. Harrison talked with people from every section of the city, City employees, and business leaders in Trenton about common sense solutions to fix these problems as Mayor.

Harrison drew on these conversations to design a plan to make the bold changes City Hall needs by:

Instituting open office hours with the Mayor and all Department Heads so that residents can ask questions and give their leaders suggestions face-to-face. Harrison knows that Trenton cannot succeed if Trentonians do not trust their leaders, and he is committed to making it easy for Trentonians to ask questions about decisions he and his Department Heads make and to provide their own innovative suggestions for ways to move Trenton forward.

Implementing an online accountability system where Trentonians can log complaints online and track City Hall’s response. If Trentonians can track a package, Harrison believes everyone should also be able to track City Hall’s response to complaints about problems such as pot holes, abandoned properties, and broken sidewalks. He believes that City leaders must be accountable to provide the best service, and Harrison is committed to making sure he, his department heads, and City employees are answerable to the people they serve.

Improving training for City employees and requiring that everyone who works in City Hall participate in professional development courses. Trenton’s government should make it easier to get things done, not be an obstacle residents have to overcome. That’s why Harrison is focused on improving customer service in City Hall so anyone who has business with Trenton can count on Trenton to be a helpful partner, not a hindrance.

Opening an Office of Business Retention and Recruitment to support small businesses in Trenton and strategically market Trenton’s resources to start-ups and large companies looking to expand. Harrison will charge the office with assessing Trenton’s strengths and matching those with business needs, then target Trenton’s resources where they will matter most. Past leaders have missed too many opportunities to help businesses in Trenton grow and to bring new jobs to the city. Harrison will reverse this pattern by ensuring that City Hall is a supportive partner for business owners in Trenton and an active advocate for more businesses to bring jobs to Trenton.

Hiring the best candidates instead of filling City Hall with political appointees. For Trenton to attract new businesses and effectively serve residents, City Hall needs to be filled with the best workers who know how to get things done.  Harrison will put politics aside and hire City employees who have the experience and skills to serve Trentonians, not the political bosses in or outside the city, most effectively.

Holding Trenton Water Works accountable to keep our water safe. Harrison will institute a new protocol at TWW that requires all Trentonians to be notified within an hour if any problems occur that could impact the quality of Trenton’s drinking water. Harrison will also fill vacancies at TWW with qualified workers from Trenton and will expand opportunities for workers to participate in the continuing education courses they need to excel.

Making Trenton’s government more transparent and accountable to Trentonians will pave the way for the other bold changes Harrison plans to make. These include:

• Jumpstarting an economic revolution in Trenton by bringing in new businesses, expanding training programs for Trenton’s workers, and opening up new educational opportunities for students
• Revitalizing Trenton’s neighborhoods by repairing and improving abandoned buildings, cracking down on illegal dumping, and creating a Community Clean-Up Squad to pick up litter
• Improving public safety and building trust in communities by hiring more police officers from Trenton, building better relationships between officers and the communities they serve, and expanding ShotSpotter and other technology to reduce violence
• Making bold changes to Trenton’s education system by increasing access to Pre-K, opening community libraries, and collaborating with colleges and universities to create a University Center downtown

“Trentonians are the most creative, hardest-working people I have ever known,” Harrison said, “Sadly, City Hall has let us down. Our government should be a partner that helps every Trentonian achieve his or her full potential, but recently City Hall has been more of an obstacle. If our Trenton revolution is going to succeed, we need leaders who will be transparent and accountable to the people they serve. As Mayor, I will make the bold changes we need to ensure that everyone in City Hall is working hard to provide the best service for Trenton.”