Senior Moments
”Seniors Moments” is a new advice column where the innocent and the guilty shall remain nameless. Send your real or imagined, funny or tragic, but always educational problems to the Seniors team, composed of anonymous ICMA Senior Advisors (who shall also remain nameless to protect their reputations ).
Dear Seniors,
The Chief Elected Official in my community is long serving, and does a great job. He knows his job, has a strong sense of purpose, is well regarded in the community and has the community’s best interests at heart. We have worked together well for many years, and I respect him greatly. However, lately, he has really been driving me nuts! He pushes his statutory boundaries; he takes for granted that he is the most important person to be heard at any given moment; he asks for help or treatment by staff that is really not standard customer service- like making him copies or such. I don’t know if he has gotten more full of himself, or if I just have a bad attitude. And, I guess what is really getting me is that the more involved he becomes in politics, the more he thinks he knows everything. My job is great, but I find myself counting down the time to retirement. Do I need to rein him in or is it time for me to go?
Sincerely,
Government is great and politicians can be difficult
Dear Government is great and politicians can be difficult,
Well said and very true 😊.
This incidence of an elected official “thinking they know everything” and pushing boundaries has certainly appears to have increased over the years, but really is nothing new. It is certainly helpful when the chief elected official believes that there is a partnership with the CAO! It is, however, not always the case. I experienced this infrequently (fortunately!) during my time. While sometimes frustrating to me personally, I made it a practice to try to gently influence elected officials by helping to make my idea theirs and let them get and take the credit. In the end to me it mattered not that I received credit or acknowledgement for the accomplishment, change, implementation or result, but rather that it was in fact accomplished. My father (a City Manager in Virginia for over 25 years) told me early on in my career, it is the locality that must achieve not you personally; when that happens you also gain personal satisfaction knowing you were part of the solution! So tread lightly and know at the end of the day the locality wins!
As for elected officials asking “for help or treatment by staff that is really not standard customer service- like making him copies or such”; they are part of the team so it would not be terribly unusual for them to get that type of help from staff. Hopefully, it is not too often and does not disrupt the office. That said, if it is inappropriate in language or action. That is another matter entirely and cannot be accepted. Hopefully, that is not the case. Those cases are very delicate and need much more discussion.
As elected officials get more comfortable in their role there can be an increase in their desire to interject into day to day activities. My goal was always to try and make sure they had “all” of the information about situations. I used staff reports as an important tool to inform not only the chief elected official but all members of the Board. My long-time mentor once told me – whatever goes to one, goes to all. That seemed to help greatly, but is obviously not foolproof :-), in keeping wandering supervisors from getting too far ahead of the rest of the Board and staff.
Hope this is helpful. Don’t feel like a lone ranger on this one. We all have had these frustrations from time to time. It is important to have activities and time that help you relax and get away from “the office”. It is hard in smaller localities where everyone knows you and often wants your time. Never the less, find “you” time on a regular basis. You will feel better and you will be better able to handle the next day!
Hope this is helpful and addresses your concerns. Take care.
Fondly,
Seniors