Aspire to Lead

I read this on Scott Mabry’s blog – elumn* today. “Inside many of us who aspire to lead is a burning desire to make a difference. We’re not satisfied with sitting on the sidelines or waiting for someone to tell us what to do. We may not get it right but we’ll be damned if we’re going to go down without a fight. In the immortal words of Def Leppard we’d rather “burn out than fade away”. “

I didn’t think of Def Leppard, rather Teddy Roosevelt and the Man in the Arena. But, I understood the desire. The desire to finish in the face of all odds, but vision to change the world must have political support or there will be no ROI.

Street Project

South Main Street was last reconstructed by the DOT in 1950.  Maybe it's time to do it again.

Vision March

Applying the Fanatic discipline concept in the government sector requires a reassessment of what I’ve been using to measure my performance. The direction from the legislative branch is erratic at best, often doing total 180s and being mutually exclusive. The fanatic twenty mile march on the comprehensive plan or any other plan becomes impossible and an association with the previous council’s expectations. This can lead to short tenure.

The history of the city manager is the implementation of council policy. There is always the policy analysis and development work with the council, but the real performance was in the implementation. Now, it seems that helping the council understand what the current vision is and working through any changes is the real basis of how my performance or twenty mile march should be measured.

Collin's Leadership

I am empirically creative and have productive paranoia, but I have not always practiced fanatical discipline.

Zoning Question

Daniel Olson answers the question.

Wisconsin cities and villages have exercised zoning authority for nearly one hundred years. With notable exceptions like state mandated shoreland-wetland zoning and floodplain zoning, zoning authority in Wisconsin is exercised entirely through the policy judgment of local officials. Moreover, zoning regulations are widespread with zoning regulations on the books in small, medium and large cities and villages throughout Wisconsin. Unquestionably, zoning authority may be one of the most important powers Wisconsin cities and villages may exercise.

The Guiding Hand

The purpose of the Council is to set a strategic direction used to guide administration in creating organizational change, operational strategy, and work plans to enable the community’s vision to unfold.

Creating a document to express clearly Council’s understanding of the community’s vision provides for an enhanced understanding by staff. The Council’s goals should aim to unleash innovation, foster creativity, and invite participation. The current Comprehensive Plan provides goals and objectives that guide the staff in decision making for nine different elements.

The Plan is organized into chapters that specifically address each of the nine elements required by the “Smart Growth” law. Each chapter presents background information on the respective element (e.g. Transportation, Land Use, Economic Development) and then presents an outline of the City’s goals, objectives, and policies for that element. These documented policies are the basis for the recommendations that are presented at the end of each chapter.

The final chapter (Implementation) of the document indicates proposed strategies and implementation timelines to ensure that the recommendations presented in this Plan become a reality.

In addition to providing sound public policy guidance, a comprehensive plan should also incorporate an inclusive public participation process to ensure that its recommendations reflect a broadly supported future vision. An extensive process of citizen review and approval is critical to the planning process. This includes not only formal requirements outlined in §66.1001, but also more informal mechanisms such as public workshops and meetings.

What Train Station

I use the train of thought to informally describe one's thought process. The train can be lost, sometimes derailed, frequently hijacked, and has been known to reverse course. Also, the train of thought can be different for each individual.

A train of thought is a process linking one thought to another giving a common thread. A train of thought is generally used in debating processes. Sometimes it is hard to follow a train of thought as some people tend to ramble on.

Although it is stated that a train of thought has no beginning or end, I often wonder where some people start their train of thought and how it arrived at the conclusion. Rational deductive thought processes should rule – right? I know that we all hold opinions that are mutually exclusive and we haven’t taken the time to reason out these positions because it’s not always necessary, but when debating it should have at least been considered.