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2019/07/19 - Walter's Blog: City Council Retreat

Democracy on the Front Lines
City Administrator’s Blog
Walter Denton
 

Being an alderman on the O’Fallon City Council is a tough job. In what other position are you responsible for setting policy for an $83 million enterprise where there is no experience required, no hierarchy, no specialization, vague task definition, little feedback, and all business is conducted in public meetings? It is difficult for aldermen to be successful in such as challenging environment.

As I mentioned previously, we have seven new aldermen on the City Council, and we have been implementing an extensive orientation program. On June 15, we held a half-day work session to discuss the dynamics of decision making in a governing body and how to be a high performance government.

The session was facilitated by Dr. John Nalbandian, who is Professor Emeritus at the University of Kansas School of Public Administration and former mayor of Lawrence, Kansas. He was uniquely able to integrate the academic and the practical aspects of local government leadership.

Dr. Nalbandian’s primary insights were:

  • The role of the governing body is community building
  • Good politics is about values, not right answers
  • Value conflicts require compromise and negotiation
  • The democratic process is “messy.”

In particular, Dr. Nalbandian explained that all political debates are the result of a conflict between four values: Representation, Efficiency, Social Equity, and Individual Rights. None of these values is more important than another, and good decision-making is the result of a negotiation among the values. Politics is necessary because there is no objective method to decide between the values on any given issue.

The City Council discussed these concepts and then participated in a goal-setting exercise for a new Strategic Plan. The aldermen will use these goals to develop priorities and guidance for staff to deliver City services.

Training is essential for anyone to be successful, and the City Council is no different. June 15’s work session was valuable because it introduced a vocabulary for the aldermen to use as they deliberate important community issues. There are many exciting things happening in O’Fallon, and this training will help us to maintain the momentum.