Leadership is an elusive quality. Hard to measure, easier to sense. Hard to quantify, easier to notice with the naked eye in the responses of individuals; in the actions of peers, elected officials, hired staff and crews.
Leadership. Does that mean standing up for what one believes and saying so? Does that mean seeing an opportunity for a personal agenda and getting everybody to run with you?
Does it mean that whoever speaks loudest and trickiest wins?
Do we have a town manager who is devoted exclusively to taking care of the entity he was hired - by us - to tend? Who uses straightforward management strategies that safeguard the important financial and personnel issues in this town?
Do we have a selectboard chairman who firmly stands up to wrong doing? Do we have a selectboard board full of individuals who consistently question wrongful spending and management procedures - with more than bluster?
Are they individuals who are concerned about the ethical behavior of their own board members?
Land use is a hot topic currently. Recreational use of land is sometimes at odds with landowner concerns. Both perspectives matter, especially when parties on each side are taxpayers in the same town. When policies are clear and procedures well established, conflict can be addressed and worked through.
But when there has been a history of no clear procedure for decision making, when word of mouth and decisions made by shots from the hip prevail, then...then, tempers flare, feelings get out of hand, and what is in the best interest of the whole town is not clear; ...and ...
...the dangers of - and opportunities for - personal agendas wait in the wings to confuse the issue.
Is such a thing so very bad? Let sleeping dogs lie, and all of that? Don't rock the boat? Why make a big deal?
Depends on who's being served, doesn't it?
