Leadership Yardstick
The very nature of elected leadership dictates that what you say matters. As you, the citizen, evaluate the words you hear this evening or read tomorrow morning emanating from the City Council and filtered through the mainstream media, you should have your own yardstick to measure the leadership quotient, or lack thereof, of each official.
Wednesday's C-J made a splash with a leaked version of the state's audit for New Albany 2002. It was not a pretty sight. There is very little in the document that wasn't already known by City Council and the administration. Some of the more frightening aspects of the audit will be toned down when the 2003 audit issues from Indianapolis later this month.
Tonight, listen carefully. Here's my yardstick. If a member of council uses this audit as an excuse for voting against the Garry Plan, there will be no leadership quotient to measure.
If, on the other hand, a member of council recognizes that this audit is the reason for the Garry Plan, there will be leadership to measure.
New Albany's fiscal woes are a direct result of inattention to the details. But it doesn't need to be treated as a disaster. No one is trying to divert attention from the seriousness of this problem.
But only a minority of council seem willing to fix the problem. Right now, a majority of the council are paralyzed with fear.
This is what I'm hearing from that majority:
We have a serious problem.
We don't have the ability to spend what we thought we had.
Therefore, we should do nothing.
I'm weary of hearing the refrain "we just don't know." That's either a lie (my vote) or an admission of dereliction of duty.
There is no longer any excuse for any council member to say "I don't know."
If you don't know, you should have found out.
No more excuses. There is only one solution on the table. It addresses the problem with courage and ingenuity. It is lawful and financially prudent.
Failure to pass the Garry Plan, and each element of the Garry Plan, will be an admission by the "know-nothing" contingent that they are paralyzed by fear or that they actively wish to harm this city.
Voters will remember who showed leadership tonight. And they'll remember who used this crisis as an excuse to prolong the city's darkness.
Wednesday's C-J made a splash with a leaked version of the state's audit for New Albany 2002. It was not a pretty sight. There is very little in the document that wasn't already known by City Council and the administration. Some of the more frightening aspects of the audit will be toned down when the 2003 audit issues from Indianapolis later this month.
Tonight, listen carefully. Here's my yardstick. If a member of council uses this audit as an excuse for voting against the Garry Plan, there will be no leadership quotient to measure.
If, on the other hand, a member of council recognizes that this audit is the reason for the Garry Plan, there will be leadership to measure.
New Albany's fiscal woes are a direct result of inattention to the details. But it doesn't need to be treated as a disaster. No one is trying to divert attention from the seriousness of this problem.
But only a minority of council seem willing to fix the problem. Right now, a majority of the council are paralyzed with fear.
This is what I'm hearing from that majority:
We have a serious problem.
We don't have the ability to spend what we thought we had.
Therefore, we should do nothing.
I'm weary of hearing the refrain "we just don't know." That's either a lie (my vote) or an admission of dereliction of duty.
There is no longer any excuse for any council member to say "I don't know."
If you don't know, you should have found out.
No more excuses. There is only one solution on the table. It addresses the problem with courage and ingenuity. It is lawful and financially prudent.
Failure to pass the Garry Plan, and each element of the Garry Plan, will be an admission by the "know-nothing" contingent that they are paralyzed by fear or that they actively wish to harm this city.
Voters will remember who showed leadership tonight. And they'll remember who used this crisis as an excuse to prolong the city's darkness.
posted by All4Word at 8:38 AM
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