After 28 years, it's time for a change.

I am an electronics engineer who started my own business in Hove in 1973 and fortunately, 28 years on, it continues to thrive.

Annual payroll cost is £1 million so I reckon we can justifiably say we make a reasonable contribution to the local economy.

We've been lucky but mostly we've made our own luck by sheer hard work.

For much of the past 28 years, I've lived in Brighton so, like many locals, I know the good, the bad and the ugly and acknowledge no city can be perfect.

Like you, I know where there is always a pile of uncollected rubbish, where the pavements are dangerous, where the direction and road signs could be better, where the graffiti artists have a field day, where illegal posters get put up, where traffic always bottles up, where kids are scared to play, where it's not safe to go at night and where dilapidated buildings need a facelift.

I know which are the good schools and the not-so-good. I know that the dedicated people at the Alex work medical miracles for our children in an old Victorian building and I know our social workers struggle to keep on top of their workload.

I also know of some of the fiddles that go on to cheat the system.

What I also know is that none of this has changed much over the 28 years I've been here and I'm not proud of that, even though I'm very proud of our city.

So, if you and I know all this stuff just by living here, why haven't successive councils fixed things?

Because they are too politically-motivated or get bogged down in a process that either passes the buck or goes round and round with endless forums, consultations, committee meetings and partnerships.

My son lives and works in New York, so I visit regularly, and I have a second home in France, which is why I know the elected-mayor system is better and has been proved to work.

That's why I think it's time for a change and why I urge you to vote Yes for an elected mayor.

-Jim Hicks, Chairman, Amplicon Liveline, Brighton