By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

What’s the best way to run a city? Pontiac Mayor Bob Russell likens it to what it’s like to run a business.

Russell was a guest on a recent community forum and talked about how he and council members worked to make the best decisions for the city. While admitting he gets flak for unpopular decisions, the group continues to move forward.

“And I tell people, just like the business I ran for 35 years, if you don’t make decisions, you’re not doing anything. The goal is to make more good decisions than you do bad decisions. Because you’re going to make some. So, it’s the same way in running the city. We have to make good decisions that continually come up with new revenue sources without raising taxes. And by having new businesses – if you look downtown, all the new businesses that have come in lately, and fortunately, we have several more that are talking about coming in right now – that’s how we keep from having to raise taxes,” Russell said.

The full forum with Russell is available at wjez.com.