Bartlett said Tulsa is blessed to have three major industries - aviation, manufacturing and energy - that account for more than 50 percent of the jobs in and around the city.
"So I wave the flag for them all the time, that is my job, promoting those industries" Bartlett said. "But in so doing, there are more affiliated industries that grow and prosper from the economic vitality of the aviation, energy and manufacturing industries."
Retaining those industries and helping provide a qualified work force also is a priority, Bartlett said. Too often, business owners he talks with say their biggest issue is finding qualified workers, leaving them no other option but to look to local competitors for employees.
"If we can solve that problem and we can become a beacon for work-force development, we will hit one out of the park," Bartlett said.
The city's role in that process is to shed light on the issue and to encourage discussion among educational institutions, Bartlett said.
"I bring all the people together who are responsible for education and training on a variety of levels and say, 'How can you guys solve this problem?' " he said.
Bartlett said the days of high school students regularly taking a trade class is over and yet it is important for the community to value that kind of work.
"A four-year college degree, or (one) from the training or trade, each of those is equally fine and acceptable and of equal status," Bartlett said. "And that is the way it should be."
He said he plans to continue to do whatever he can to maintain American Airlines' presence in Tulsa and to ensure that the city-owned facilities at the airport are maintained.
In November, voters in a countywide election rejected an extension of the Vision 2025 sales tax - called Vision2 - that included some $200 million for improvements to facilities used by three industrial clients at the airport: American Airlines, Spirit AeroSystems and IC Bus.
"We want to know how the negative vote affects their plans of growing," Bartlett said. "We are certainly letting them know we are not walking away from our commitments, our responsibilities."
Bartlett said the work of the city's Management Review Office will move forward in 2013. Established in wake of the city's KPMG efficiency study, MRO has already led to the reorganization of the city's public works services and improvements in how sales taxes are collected, Bartlett said.
This year the Management Review Office will continue its work on employee safety and workers compensation issues, Bartlett said.
Later this month, the mayor and the City Council will meet to establish shared goals for 2013.
Bartlett said he was pleased with how the effort went last year and that he is looking forward to this year's discussions. He's even more enthused about what he says is the good relationship that has been established between the Mayor's Office and the City Council.
"That whole relationship is exactly what the people that drew up our city charter envisioned - is this relationship between the mayor and the City Council. We have got it, so that is going to keep going," Bartlett said. "I am real proud of that. We all are."
Original Print Headline: Training, jobs top mayor's '13 agenda
Kevin Canfield 918-581-8313
kevin.canfield@tulsaworld.com
Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/articlepath.aspx?articleid=20130114_16_A11_Whenit552380&rss_lnk=12
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