"A few perspectives" by John Cullen

Resident John Cullen submitted this today:

Found “enduring” the recent BFHA forums to have been well worth the time spent. Sorry more folks didn’t avail themselves of the opportunity to observe the myriad characters anxious to lead the city and make decisions for you. Hope the airing of the forums comes through, is at a convenient time and that it will get record ratings. Steve Collins noted that they may have been painful to endure at times. Welcome to city government. There may be moments for city leaders which some may construe as glamorous, but generally city service is a very time consuming, rigorous, tedious and frustrating grind. You all only have to endure it for a few months every two years. Hope you suck it up, do your best to investigate the candidates and make informed choices.

Kevin McCauley has been skewered to a degree for his comment/admission that it took a year and a half to get to a point where he may have felt confident in approaching his duties as a councilperson in full. To me, this is a blatant indication that the cooks at the grill shouldn’t be trusted with dinner. As involved as one could possibly be as a government outsider, starting work as an actual councilperson or mayor would still be a staggering dress down. This city has a budget of $164 million dollars and is not run like a business. At the very least, the Housing Authority, Water Department and Department of Education operate somewhat autonomously and their relationship with the city is different than the core city departments. There are also special categories of government created as needed to address specific issues, such as the Hoppers/Birge pond committee, the Roberts property committee, Pine Lake, the Downtown Bristol Development Authority… There is also the daily grind of spontaneous issues. And then there are the State and Federal requirements, relationships and issues. How do you deal with these things as a new councilor or mayor? First of all, you find out what kind of tissues you are allowed to use, by statute, as the tears well in your eyes. Or, more likely, you reluctantly inquire about the toilet tissue. Hopefully there is not a pending controversy in this area requiring a vote…

City government functions in a very specific manner to hopefully assure there are prudent and representative decisions made. This promotes tedious processes which protect the public but slows down decision making. Getting to a point where an official can actually vote on something involves wading through all kinds of murky waters and figuring out how to deal with all types of obstacles, overcoming each and arriving at the “we’re actually going to do this” level. Grunt. And then a bunch of “anonymous” folk tell them they’re spineless, mindless, partisan, have conflicts, ambitions, ulterior motives… And these are folks who haven’t gone through the grind Kevin McCauley has trying to not only understand, but master how you actually can get something progressive done within a city government structure such as Bristol’s. I would suggest these “anonymous” folks keep it in their pants unless they are willing to walk in Kevin’s or any other elected officials’ shoes or legitimize their complaints with an identity so they can be addressed by the party you have an issue with. I think it would be highly likely they will be more courteous with you than you have been with them.

Kevin McCaulley should not be denigrated for stating what is a reality for most any public servant entering a first term. There is a great deal to learn if you want to be effective – not flashy. Capable, competent and, hopefully, effective. His honesty in this regard is refreshing and indicates he has not only recognized how complex the governing of this city is, but also that making the city a better place is not a straightforward and easy task.

Because the scope, complexity and cost of Bristol’s city government has accelerated dramatically over the past ten years, it seems prudent that we, as citizens, have a stabilizing influence in place to establish continuity in our government, as well as a base to work from. When we change our direction every two years with new councilors and/or mayors we inevitably take a step back before we ever can have the opportunity to move forward. There is a severe learning curve, and each “new” official wants to do things as they see fit or as they see their constituents want things done. The areas affected by these “new” ideas/approaches tend to involve very limited aspects of government, but all the rest of the operation needs to move on. Often times, these “continuing operations” become neglected until they themselves become an issue (can you say police department?). A city manager would afford stability, continuity and a source for information that could cut a dedicated and hard working councilor like Kevin McCauley’s road to a feeling of competence way down. And since I perceive Kevin’s perspective on what equates to competence is very high, it could make for a very short case of the runs for all new elected officials.

Establishing a position of city manager does not require ceding any authority for running the city to an individual. The city manager would be beholden to the officials you elect. Any candidates from the “anonymous”? Ellen Zoppo functioned somewhat as a de facto city manager during her term as councilor. She understood the “ropes” and helped other elected as well as salaried officials navigate the complexities of the various layers of government with the simple pretense of getting something accomplished, or at least getting possibilities to the point where they could, subject to popular approval, become reality. She was vilified and cast aside at least to some degree because she didn’t spend enough time assuaging constituent’s needs and concerns to their satisfaction, legitimate or not, when she understood there was time better spent dealing with what could and needed to be dealt with for the benefit of entire population of Bristol. And she was the one comfortable enough with how government works to be a realist regarding wants and wishes. She was, consequently, compelled to say no when other elected officials may have said “I’ll look into it”, whether they did or didn’t or produced or didn’t. A true city manager would provide the councilors and mayor the greater opportunity to embrace ideas without raising false expectations. The position would establish a baseline for all our elected officials to work from that does not exist now. The base line now has the potential to flop around every two years, and that is a significant impediment to progress. Life and the encumbrances of laws and governmental relations are changing rapidly – too rapidly for my liking – but there seems no stopping the “progress”. But we can’t afford not to adapt to the change, and quickly – after all, you’re reading this as you are on a blog site. And what is a blog? Microsoft Word hasn’t even caught up with it on their spell check. What’s next? Are you ready? Is Bristol ready?

Be well,

John Cullen

PS All the candidates who participated in the BFHA forum and are running to become Bristol’s future leaders are to be commended and thanked for their sincere desire to make this city a better place. We are fortunate to have a very capable slate of candidates and my perspective is that some choices will be rather difficult. That is good news. If you disagree with them on an issue or in general, I think each or them would accept and possibly learn from that if it was couched in a positive manner. Regarding this site, lose the callousness, run yourself or pound the sand in private.

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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Federal Hill Association holding candidate forums

The Federal Hill Association will host candidate forums in the first floor City Council chambers for City Council and mayoral candidates during the first week of October.
The schedule calls for District 2 council candidates to answer questions from 6 to 7:45 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 1. District 3 council candidates will follow from 8 to 9:45 p.m.
The council candidates for District 1 are slated to field questions from 6 to 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 3.
The mayoral candidates will wrap things up from 8 to 9:45 p.m. on Oct. 3rd.

Statement from the Federal Hill Association about the forums:
In the interest of serving our members as well as all the citizens of Bristol, the Bristol Federal Hill Association (BFHA) has organized public forums for candidates to the Bristol City Council and Mayor’s office. Every effort is made to assure all candidates can participate if they so desire.
The forums consist of two parts. The first section is dedicated to the candidate’s response to several issues presented to them before the forum. These topics are determined by a committee of BFHA members and generally focus on city wide issues relevant to most voters. The second section is dedicated to candidates’ response to questions offered by members of the general public who choose to attend the forum. These questions are written on cards and presented to the candidates by the forum moderators. Because it is a forum on issues, similar questions are summarized by the moderators and those that they deem are not relevant to a public forum are omitted. The moderators are neutral, and their function is to assure each candidate adheres to time limits on their responses and that the forum remains focused on the issues presented.
The BFHA is a community organization, and has never endorsed a political candidate. Our purpose in conducting the forums is to hear what the candidates have to say on issues relevant to the BFHA and its members and the city as a whole. We believe it is an extraordinarily valuable means for all Bristol voters to better understand the candidates’ positions and ideas. The emphasis is on challenging all the candidates and compelling each to help educate the voters about them. It is an attempt to help city voters make informed choices. We make every effort to assure these forums are apolitical, and that they are fair to each candidate to the degree possible regarding scheduling, time to prepare answers to the issues presented before the forum and time to present their positions and ideas at the forum.
We strongly believe there is a need and a benefit to these forums, and anticipate organizing them again for this year’s general election. We hope all the candidates will feel compelled to participate, and will do all we can in the coming weeks to schedule a date that is suitable for each of them. We also hope that as many voters who can will attend the forums to help emphasize to the candidates they are an important means of expressing the merits of their candidacy. We are currently working toward coordinating dates for forums in October, and will publicize them as soon as they are confirmed.

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Keep me up to date, folks

If one of the candidates for city office is going to speak to a group, let me know. I might try to catch it, too. If it's open to the public, tell me. I'll try at least to to get it up on this blog.
If there's going to be a forum or debate -- or even if you're trying to put one together -- then let me know. I'll try to be there, of course, but I can also help make sure others are.
I'd like to get a little calendar going on here that shows when political events are happening through election day. It will help all of us who are scrambling around.
You can simply post a comment to this thread and I'll get the message. If you don't me to post it for everyone to see, just say so and I'll keep it to myself.

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com