Henry Lipman: Bruce Cheney has effective leadership skills to be mayor

To The Daily Sun,

I have known Bruce Cheney for more than 30 years and served alongside him at City Council. Bruce is a seasoned leader with years of service to Laconia as its police chief and at the state level, developing the 911 system for our state.

Having served on the Council for nine terms and as its Finance Committee Chair, I have some insight into the key attributes that make a mayor effective.

First and foremost, the mayor's formal powers under our City Charter are fairly limited. The mayor only votes in the case of a tie, appoints councilors to committees, creates meeting agendas, and effectively serves as the chief “cheerleader“ for the city.

At the end of the day, the real power of the mayor position is the degree the mayor is effective in engaging fellow councilors, working well and through others inclusive of the councilors, the city manager, and other community leaders inside and outside of government. This skill of bringing the “team” together and collaborating on ideas to advance the city is what is key to being an effective mayor.

Given what I observed serving alongside Bruce, he has that skill set. Please join me in supporting Bruce as our next mayor.

Henry Lipman

Laconia