Consequences of Selfishness and Mistrust

One of my favorite topics of discussion is communication within a family, especially the necessity of maintaining polite, non-confrontational discourse.  The importance of such discourse within families also translates into what happens in a community.

Gary and I travel a great deal for our business.  We’ve driven through dozens of communities in Utah, Nevada, and California.  We visited relatives and friends, but mostly we worked.  I promoted my new book Loving Firmness: Successfully Raising teenagers without Losing Your mind, and Gary tromped around gas fields.

I noticed, as I read newspapers, that local governments struggled with all sorts of problems as they tried to conduct public affairs.  The problems seemed to stem from the distrust average citizens have in their governments, plus a tendency for people to sue rather than compromise and cooperate.

Los Osos, a medium sized town in California, is going through one of the worst scenarios I’ve ever observed.  A few years ago, their population reached a density that required a public sewer system, rather than septic tanks and individual drain fields.  The State regulatory agencies mandated that the city take action and the city formed a special service district. The city council approved a board for it who hired consultants, selected a site for the sewage treatment plant.  Unfortunately, some citizens didn’t like the choice of site and polarization of the community ensued.  An election was held and the entire city council was replaced by an 8 vote margin.  The new city council threw out the special services board of directors and scrapped the sewage treatment plant four years into the project.  The state intervened and imposed fines because public health was at risk.  What a mess!

Local government officials used to be able to make utility decisions, but no more.  The old ways don’t work.  Gary and I have had numerous opportunities to help counties and cities involve their citizens in a way that facilitates cooperation and forestalls legal wrangling.

When an unpopular utility needs to be built like a sewage treatment plant or a landfill, the savvy local government organizes a special service district or handles the project themselves.  Then they hire a technical consultant who can evaluate choices and explain those choices to the electorate.  Public meetings are held and alternatives are discussed.  The consultant and the officials present viable alternatives, then a referendum election is held and the people decide which choice they want.

A referendum is more efficient than leaving the situation with public meetings, because people with axes to grind usually show up at the meetings and they tend to be noisy, as well as unwilling to see anybody else’s point of view.  The government officials shrewdly appoint an ad hoc committee to study the problem and present solutions.

Ad hoc committees harness the energy of well-meaning people and tend to neutralize the curmudgeons.  The alternatives are published in the local newspaper and the technical reports are displayed at the library, courthouse, etc. for detailed study by anybody who wants to take the time to read them.

Once this public involvement activity is finished, the local government responsible for making utility decisions can take action without fear of reprisal.

- Corrie Lynne Player