Working With Elected Officials

Happy Friday,

Infrastructure is planned, designed, built, operated, and managed by a symphony of rich human knowledge, creativity, and dedication. A symphony that has produced humanity's most significant and beneficial accomplishments and the foundation upon which civilized society has been built.

Infrastructure is a true public asset, entirely funded and 100% owned by the people, not government. Governments and districts are charged with operating and managing infrastructure to meet public needs and to serve as stewards of the people's investment. 

Elected officials, like city councils, county supervisors, and district and public utility directors, act as the people’s representatives to oversee and ensure that the whole process delivers and maintains its maximum value.

So, it’s ironic that elected officials are sometimes the weakest link in the chain and the chief obstacle to agencies providing that good stewardship. I once asked four county supervisors (a hairdresser, insurance agent, retired sales manager, and real estate agent) how many people in their county had experience managing multi-billion-dollar assets. They laughed. “No one in THIS county! Haha!” I then pointed out that the county wastewater infrastructure that they managed was a multi-billion-dollar asset. That sobered them up. 

Even a smart, genuinely competent elected official is spread way too thin with too many departments and issues to get deep into the details of infrastructure. They have a lot on their plate. Plus, many have another full-time job to think about. So, they have to rely on trust. But trust isn't automatic. It has to be earned. Ideally, this should be done by all parties to the process, but especially by agency staff. In the absence of trust, there's a lot of room for things to get screwed up. Well-placed trust is the key to exceptional outcomes for agencies and infrastructure.

Here's how three excellent leaders at the Truckee Meadows Water Authority approach trust-building with elected officials:

Danny Rotter, Director of Engineering: “Honesty and transparency. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because distrust from elected officials tends to make the staff clam up, which creates more distrust. Being transparent and honest is much easier because it helps elected officials see that even if things aren’t where we want them to be, we’re always trying to do the right thing.”

John Enloe, Director of Resource Planning and Management and former consultant on earning the trust of multiple agencies concurrently - The reason it all worked was being totally transparent. We made it clear that our recommendations would be the same REGARDLESS of who was paying the bill. We were going to recommend what we thought was the best technical solution for the public interest in the long run. If that wasn’t what you wanted, then hire someone else.

We had all the municipalities standing up for us.  Other consultants just couldn’t comprehend that…”

John Zimmerman, General Manager – “Never compromise your reputation or "word" for short-term gain. Your reputation takes years to build and only a few seconds to destroy.  And once it's destroyed, it takes even more time to build up again.” Steadfast integrity.

Once again, it all comes down to character and competence, the building blocks of trust and the currency for your success.

 Best to ya,

Dave

Feedback and blowback are always welcome here: dave@goodnewsfriday.com

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Written by me, not ChatGPT: speed assist and blunder avoidance by Grammarly.