Thursday November 04, 2021 Regular City Council Meeting

Escanaba Marina

Escanaba November 4th, 2021 City Council meeting is a sign off for those who are leaving and new members will come next time. That is how the process works. People are elected for a time and then new people are elected. It is that collective sharing of knowledge that is important. New mayors and city council bring new ideas and it takes time to learn how the admin process works. That is why in any team you want a mix of old and new members. New ideas mixed with wisdom of how things play out in the implementation process. 

There is some interesting literature in the journal of State and Local Government Review on leadership and council membership. The researchers surveyed city council members on interpersonal relations, leadership, staff competence, and conflict. What they found was "....interpersonal relationships between members of council and the mayor’s leadership ability are significantly related to perceptions of council effectiveness." (Nelson, Gabris, & Davis, 2011, para 1). 

Escanaba Beach

The most effective councils seemed to do the following in a way that led to additional communication and I suspect in turn better resources management through utilizing staff well (the study didn't go into that but could be a contributing factor in perceptions of effectiveness.)

1. regenerative interpersonal relationships

2. run meetings with integrity and create linkages to professional staff

Escanaba Park

(Thinking about the world of politics. It may be important for new people to build off of what was spearheaded by prior administrations. Sometimes you might need to radically change things and sometimes it is better to build on prior efforts. There is often a feeling that when someone is new they need to change lots of things to show change. Sometimes "biting off more than one can chew" can get bogged down by too much change at once. Unless its absolutely necessary it is often better to understand the current strengths of prior efforts and enhance them when its in the best interest of the community. It could save money through not having to redo prior efforts. In other words, one should take a strategic and not an emotional view of what constitutes positive change. )

Nelson, K., Gabris, G. & Davis, T. (2011). What Makes Municipal Councils Effective?: An Empirical Analysis of How Council Members Perceive Their Group Interactions and Processes. State and Local Government Review 43(3). Retrieved November 7th, 2021 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0160323X11424913