 |
|
MRSC has joined with Carl Neu, Director of the Center for the Future of Local Governance, P. Stephen DiJulio, Attorney, Foster Pepper PLLC, Ann Macfarlane, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Jurassic Parliament, and George Raiter, Cowlitz County Commissioner, to bring you the "Council/Commission Advisor." The Council/Commission Advisor will feature a new article each month with timely information and advice you can use.*
These are Transformative Times
March 2010
By Carl H. Neu, Jr.
President of Neu and Company and Director of the Center for the Future of Local GovernanceTM
The title of this article is a direct quote from a highly-respected and experienced mayor addressing a conference for newly-elected municipal officials. In her opinion, the current cohort of mayors and council members are experiencing and will have to deal with conditions and challenges unprecedented in state and local governments and not experienced by most of their predecessors.
An inconvenient truth is becoming more evident as state and local government revenues continue to deteriorate. The nation's governors acknowledged this at the recently held winter meeting of the National Governor's Association, "States [and many municipalities] have not yet seen the worst of economic times." Congressional Budget Office projections show that the national economy, job growth, and local government revenues may not rebound until as late as 2015. On top of this, the "fruits of economic rebound" are likely to be consumed by additional federal program mandates, the "trillion dollar gap" to restore underfunded public pension and health benefit plans, and mounting costs associated with maintaining public infrastructure and service delivery demands.
Yes, these are transformative times in which states, municipalities, all local governments and their elected officials and citizens must reset their expectations about what these entities can provide realistically in terms of services and programs and how they can ensure their fiscal sustainability both as governmental jurisdictions, in particular, and communities, in general.
Abraham Lincoln in the transformative times he and the nation experienced during his first term as President stated "we must think anew" and recalibrate how one must see, learn, think and act differently and adaptively in challenging times. Old remedies won't cure new and unprecedented conditions.
For those "blessed" by being in positions of authority and accountability over the future of our states and cities, I suggest five steps:
Step 1: Set a vision and a direction for a sustainable future for your community.
Organizations can't prepare for the future if they can't "see and define" what they want that future to be and how they intend to get there. Admittedly, this can be difficult in these challenging and uncertain times. But a good strategic plan with a clear vision and definitions of the strategic factors are essential to achieving a community's desired future. Next definite goals for achieving that future are a must if reasoned decisions are made based upon long-term needs and implications. The plan focuses on "what needs to happen" and how to anticipate and manage change. Governments given to political reaction to pressures and popular trends inevitably will prove to be unsustainable.
Step 2: Remember in challenging times, stewardship may be more important than leadership.
A savvy police chief I know claims it is easy to be the captain of a ship in calm seas, but it takes a captain with real "moxie" to guide and preserve a ship through turbulent seas.
It is more glamorous to be viewed as a leader - one who charges to new heights and accomplishments. But in challenging times, the need is to preserve that which we value and want to sustain for the future - to ensure that our communities keep the sinews to remain viable and productive as an institution capable of meeting its base-line services and obligations. Jim Justin, Director of State and Federal Relations for the Association of Washington Cities, addressed this very fact at a YouTube presentation on February 22nd in which he stated "The state budget is changing rapidly - [we] must protect city revenues".
Too many organizations succumb to crisis management because they gave in to short-term demands and lost the critical perspective of good stewardship needed to sustain the organization especially in "turbulent seas"."
Step 3: Learn that sometimes saying "no" is far more responsible than saying "yes".
Tough choices need to be made when resources are tight, times are uncertain and prospects for the future can be doubtful.
Too many "yes's" have burdened our nation and states with programs they now can not sustain. More "no's" would have been truly more responsible leadership even if unpopular politically. A simple obvious fact - there never will be enough resources to do all the things people want or to which they feel entitled. Scarcity compels us to set and adhere to priorities - "what really matters and is most important" in terms of what must we make happen. When one acts under the illusion of inexhaustible resources - the printing press option open to only one governmental entity - irresponsible decision making is always the result and leads to predictable ruination. A number of states and cities are experiencing the resulting pain.
Learn to be a good steward and say "no" when it matters. A good starting place - NO to unfunded mandates imposed upon us by governments unwilling to accept responsibility and accountability for their own obligations and decisions.
Step 4: Don't surrender local governments' role as "the laboratories of democracy".
Our nation's founders, although suspicious of human nature in many ways, placed their faith in a key principle: government closest to the people governs best in representing what people value and aspire to achieve for themselves. For nearly four-score years, we as a people have been led to believe by some that we should surrender our sovereignty to a small band of 535 people who live in a world view "far, far away" from the reality of daily life and existence in our communities.
It is inconceivable to me, and probably was to our nation's founders, that the creative capacity of over 8000 state legislators and tens of thousands of municipal and other local government officials embedded in the daily life of our communities, "the laboratories of democracy", should be surrendered to a small band of professional office and privilege seekers who focus on power rather than responsibility, accountability and performance. At the local level, we don't have the option of such a perspective. The people who elect us know "where we live and how they can get to us face-to-face".
Step 5: Never lose faith in your ability to prevail in these transformative times.
John Gardner states that the true act of leadership, and I might add stewardship, is to recognize that ordinary people when inspired are capable of extraordinary achievements.
In a previous article, I stated my belief that the current cohort of city officials and their local government colleagues must be the RESET stewards for navigating our cities through these transformative times. You can be a successful navigator taking your city through these transformative times, but you must first will to do so. Then you must see, learn, think and act anew!
P. Stephen DiJulio, a partner at Foster Pepper & Shefelman PLLC, focuses on litigation involving state and local governments, and land use and environmental law. Particular experience includes representation of jurisdictions on eminent domain, utilities (water, wastewater, storm water, solid waste systems), local improvement districts, facility siting and contractor litigation. More.
Carl Neu, author and consultant, is recognized nationally as an authority on, and an experienced practitioner of, the theory and application of governance and leadership to city councils and county boards, local government managers, and community leaders. More.
Ann G. Macfarlane is a Professional Registered Parliamentarian. She created Jurassic Parliament to make parliamentary procedure easy to learn and memorable. She provides training on leadership, meeting management, parliamentary procedure and organizational development across the U.S.
George Raiter has been a Cowlitz County Commissioner since January 2001. He has held various positions in the community, including Longview City Council from 1978 - 1986, City of Longview Mayor, Cowlitz Planning Commission from 1996-1998 and the State Legislature from 1989 - 1991. In addition to his public service, George has worked in private industry for Weyerhaeuser Company 1987-91 (Regional Environmental Manager) And Reynolds Alumunim 1972-87 (Quality Manager, Plant Manager)
*The Articles appearing in the "Council/Commission" column represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Municipal Research & Services Center.