Perhaps the most famous advertisement in American history was one for Cadillac in a 1915 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. It was entitled “The Penalty of Leadership,” and it talked about how people who do great things and receive great recognition also spawn great envy and spite among their detractors. So if you’re in front of the crowd, you’ve got to watch your back.
In Cranberry, there’s certainly a bit of that – with snarky comments coming at us from a small group of public officials who ought to know better. But here, it’s mostly that when we step up to take on a regional leadership responsibility because it’s the right thing to do, people expect us to keep on doing that while they themselves mostly hang back and watch.
That can get tiresome. But Cranberry is fortunate to be governed by a board of elected officials who truly understand that our Township is not an island but part of a much larger region, and that we all depend on one another. Accordingly, our Supervisors expect us to play an active role in the region. As a result, our board and staff are involved in a wide range of regional organizations and efforts.
They include the Local Government Academy; the Butler County Council of Governments; Butler County projects such as the Strategic Planning Initiative by the Butler County Commissioners and the Butler County Chamber; Butler County Housing and Redevelopment Authority; the Butler County Planning Commission; The Regional Corridor Alliance; The Chamber of Commerce; the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission; the Butler County Tax Collection Committee; the Rt. 19 planning project with Marshall Township, Seven Fields and Jackson Townships; teaching classes for local government officials; serving as facilitators for regional collaboration; Sustainable Pittsburgh; Power of 32, Allegheny Conference for Community Development; Butler County Community Development Corporation; NAIOP, and others.
Our people work hard to sustain those organizations, often playing critical roles in helping them advance their efforts to improve the region. And they do this on top of an already heavy Cranberry Township work load. But, to be honest, we sometimes look around and see that we are the only municipality there, always subject to people’s expectation that Cranberry will handle it. Our leadership is either taken for granted or results in jealous put-downs of what we have accomplished.
The fact is that anyone can do what we have done – if only they’d set their minds to do it. And we sincerely hope that more of them will. But at least for now, Cranberry, which is widely perceived to be one of the best communities in Pennsylvania, seems doomed to pay the penalty of leadership over and over again.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Doing the Right Thing
Throughout the nearly 20 years I’ve been here – and probably before that too – Cranberry Township’s government has operated by a simple principle: Do the Right Thing. Specifically, that meant making decisions based on what’s fair to the people involved, on what could stand up under public scrutiny, and on what made the most efficient use of public resources. It also meant resisting decision-making based on favoritism, officials’ self-interest, or political dogma.
So, for example, we started requiring builders to dedicate permanent green and open space in our booming development years before it became trendy; we did it because our residents told us they wanted to retain as much of the Township’s rural character as possible. We turned off lights that weren’t needed long before energy saving became chic; we did it to save money. We irrigated our golf course with recycled wastewater because it cost less and protected our ground water – not because it was fashionable. They were all just the right things to do.
Over time, however, many of those same practices, which had long since become part of our standard operating procedures, started taking on the tone of a more lofty ideology. Sustainability, a philosophy which encompassed much of what we were doing, and then some, seemed to be a good fit. So we began characterizing our practices as part of a ‘sustainable’ approach to management. And they are.
But the heart of those sustainable practices remains the same straightforward principle which has guided us all along: Do the Right Thing. We have not become captive of any movement’s global manifesto. Instead, sustainability is our way of saying that we care about our taxpayers, our ratepayers, our community, and our future. And we want to do right by them.
So, for example, we started requiring builders to dedicate permanent green and open space in our booming development years before it became trendy; we did it because our residents told us they wanted to retain as much of the Township’s rural character as possible. We turned off lights that weren’t needed long before energy saving became chic; we did it to save money. We irrigated our golf course with recycled wastewater because it cost less and protected our ground water – not because it was fashionable. They were all just the right things to do.
Over time, however, many of those same practices, which had long since become part of our standard operating procedures, started taking on the tone of a more lofty ideology. Sustainability, a philosophy which encompassed much of what we were doing, and then some, seemed to be a good fit. So we began characterizing our practices as part of a ‘sustainable’ approach to management. And they are.
But the heart of those sustainable practices remains the same straightforward principle which has guided us all along: Do the Right Thing. We have not become captive of any movement’s global manifesto. Instead, sustainability is our way of saying that we care about our taxpayers, our ratepayers, our community, and our future. And we want to do right by them.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Drop by for coffee (and conversation)
I like coffee as well as the next person, but it has always been a private preference of mine. However now I’m going public with it, and I’m inviting my fellow Cranberry residents to join me for a cup or two. And it’s more than just a taste test; I’m thinking of coffee here as a social medium, as in traditional coffee house culture, where people can talk comfortably and at length about whatever they have on their minds.
So I’m planning a monthly series of gatherings we’re calling “Coffee and Conversation,” which will be held in different cafes around Cranberry starting next month. They’re intended to encourage residents to talk about the Township and the things they would like to share with me in person. We see these informal meetings as the latest extension of Cranberry’s ongoing communication outreach efforts.
Of course, there’s no way of telling ahead of time exactly what people will want to talk about. And no one should get the idea that these conversations will be the equivalent of a formal hearing or official action. But they will help me and our Township staff to make sure that the priorities we have are informed by the priorities our residents have.
Our first two coffees will be held on Tuesday mornings, from 9:30 to 10:30, on April 13 and May 11 in Panera’s meeting room, on the lower level of the Cranberry Mall. Our third will be on June 22 at Crazy Mocha in Freedom Square. If you’re available, stop by for as much or as little time as you can spare. The coffee’s on me.
So I’m planning a monthly series of gatherings we’re calling “Coffee and Conversation,” which will be held in different cafes around Cranberry starting next month. They’re intended to encourage residents to talk about the Township and the things they would like to share with me in person. We see these informal meetings as the latest extension of Cranberry’s ongoing communication outreach efforts.
Of course, there’s no way of telling ahead of time exactly what people will want to talk about. And no one should get the idea that these conversations will be the equivalent of a formal hearing or official action. But they will help me and our Township staff to make sure that the priorities we have are informed by the priorities our residents have.
Our first two coffees will be held on Tuesday mornings, from 9:30 to 10:30, on April 13 and May 11 in Panera’s meeting room, on the lower level of the Cranberry Mall. Our third will be on June 22 at Crazy Mocha in Freedom Square. If you’re available, stop by for as much or as little time as you can spare. The coffee’s on me.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Dysfunctional government
There’s been a lot of press lately about Congress being broken, paralyzed, and mired in partisan acrimony. Sadly, I’m convinced that it’s true. Even more regrettable, though, is that the paralysis is not just limited to Washington; it has been spreading throughout the body politic. So in addition to a federal government stuck in its own rancor, we also have state governments unable to address critical policy issues and local governments incapable of dealing with one another or their own constituents.
I just got back from a professional development seminar where a major theme was “how to manage in a dysfunctional government.” It was depressing. But, at the same time, I felt lucky not to have experienced that here. Cranberry Township is blessed with a culture which does not tolerate the sorts of disrespectful, in-your-face behavior that we see all around us. Instead, it accepts that while people have legitimately different views, consensus is essential to acting in the best interests of our residents and taxpayers.
Historically, Cranberry’s Board has had both Democrat and Republican Supervisors. But when they meet to conduct the people’s business, party lines don’t seem to matter. Cranberry never had a history of strong political party machines or operatives, so when the Supervisors meet, political ideologies as well as personal egos get checked at the door. In their place, the Board focuses on doing the business of the people in a respectful, professional manner.
That shouldn’t be remarkable; after all, it’s what they were elected to do. But they’re surrounded by dysfunctional behavior at every level of government, and many people now consider political grandstanding at the expense of everyone else to be the norm for elected officials. It shouldn’t be; it’s a huge disservice to residents and taxpayers and it is definitely not the norm here. Perhaps that’s why Cranberry is widely seen as one of the most desirable communities in the region.
But it could happen here. And one way that could happen is if we were to take our functional local government for granted, assume that civility in public discourse is normal, and fail to appreciate what we have. It’s important for our elected officials to know that Cranberry residents recognize that good government and respectful debate are rare and valuable assets. And maybe someday, the results of their good work might even inspire our state and federal counterparts to behave in a similar manner.
I just got back from a professional development seminar where a major theme was “how to manage in a dysfunctional government.” It was depressing. But, at the same time, I felt lucky not to have experienced that here. Cranberry Township is blessed with a culture which does not tolerate the sorts of disrespectful, in-your-face behavior that we see all around us. Instead, it accepts that while people have legitimately different views, consensus is essential to acting in the best interests of our residents and taxpayers.
Historically, Cranberry’s Board has had both Democrat and Republican Supervisors. But when they meet to conduct the people’s business, party lines don’t seem to matter. Cranberry never had a history of strong political party machines or operatives, so when the Supervisors meet, political ideologies as well as personal egos get checked at the door. In their place, the Board focuses on doing the business of the people in a respectful, professional manner.
That shouldn’t be remarkable; after all, it’s what they were elected to do. But they’re surrounded by dysfunctional behavior at every level of government, and many people now consider political grandstanding at the expense of everyone else to be the norm for elected officials. It shouldn’t be; it’s a huge disservice to residents and taxpayers and it is definitely not the norm here. Perhaps that’s why Cranberry is widely seen as one of the most desirable communities in the region.
But it could happen here. And one way that could happen is if we were to take our functional local government for granted, assume that civility in public discourse is normal, and fail to appreciate what we have. It’s important for our elected officials to know that Cranberry residents recognize that good government and respectful debate are rare and valuable assets. And maybe someday, the results of their good work might even inspire our state and federal counterparts to behave in a similar manner.
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