Thanks for all those who came out to our great Winter Conference. I had a blast with the amazing content that strove to help us be better leaders, better people and better at our jobs.
The VML staff that attended seemed to also appreciate a break from the General Assembly session. And speaking of that, what a roller coaster. Two things have come up recently that touch on some of our core issues as managers. Not being political and the higher moral purpose of the job.
The challenge to not be political was driven home by Senator Stanley’s well intended but ill-fated attempt at securing a 3% raise for Sheriff’s office Deputies across the state. It failed. Regardless of your personal non-work opinion on this issue, the reason it failed is tied to our core philosophy as managers. In short it was voted down due to the recent public struggle regarding proposed gun legislation. Some elected Sheriffs exercised their right of office to take a “political” stand and go so far as to state that they may not enforce certain laws. Some members of the General Assembly exercised their political prerogative to not reward the employees of those other elected officials. You see, political actions have political consequences. As managers, we strive to avoid getting into such situations as ultimately it is our employees and citizens who bear the brunt of things when they go sideways. Resolutions in support of the 2nd amendment were taken as political stands and given a political reprisal.
Even the appearance of being political can have an impact on the team. I had a code enforcement officer pulling campaign signs that were creating a line of sight issue. They were photographed doing this and the allegation that they were working to support the opponent of the sign owner started circulating. I also had a police officer once make social media comments about a local election. Though each of these things were legal and legitimate, did they help me secure fair salaries and benefits for these hard working folks? No, it created noise, distraction and the appearance/assumption that we were “political”. Once things become politicized, merit, facts, planning and logic are all useless.
We are reminded to keep to the higher moral purpose by the proposed legislation on collective bargaining. I will not draft or vote on such legislation and can’t comment on it being “good” or “bad”. We are taught that as managers we are serving the higher moral purpose of helping a community enact local democracy and the best level of self governance in the world. How are these things related? Well, an article in today’s Wall Street Journal shows the disconnect that was created when New York passed the same legislation. When the recision hit, we were able to freeze positions and freeze wages. New York? They were roped into back to back 3% and 4% pay increases (remember, our budgets generally dropped about 8%). The short of it is that the voters had a portion of their self governance removed as a large chunk of the decision-making of the locality was turned over to contracts and negotiations that would be the rule regardless of any direction in which the voters wanted to take the community.
It does seem incongruent to vote down a 3% raise and at the same time contemplate a program where regular raises could be demanded regardless of economic conditions. In the long run the second is a more advantageous outcome for the effected staff.
That said, the collective bargaining approach is an end-run around political disfunction. Teacher and Law Enforcement pay in the Commonwealth is in the middle of the pack nationwide, but low compared to the size of our economy. Perhaps handing wage and benefit negotiation over is a solution to how politically challenging it is to pay market wages and provide meaningful benefits. I don’t know how this will work out, but I do know my job is helping a group of men and women elected to govern do just that. Anything that makes that harder is a challenge.
Please join me in welcome our new VLGMA members Brian Martin, Saltville Town Manager and Greg Jones
Gate City Town Manager.
