HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 08-05 David Schultz: What I learned in Maplewood that might be useful in Lake Elmo PIONEER PRESS8/16/2016 David Schultz: What I learned in Maplewood that might be useful in Lake Elmo —Twin Cities
OPINION > COLUMNISTS
Davidlearned in
Maplewood that might be useful in Lake
Elmo
By D III I D SQ: II UT I7
PUBLISHED: August 5, 2016 at 12:01 am I UPDATED: August 4, 2016 at 7:04 pm
I am no stranger to local government dysfunctionalism. Twice in the last 10 years I have been brought in as a
consultantto tryto diagnose and fix political dysfunctionalism in east metro governments: First in Maplewood,
second in Roseville. The problems I saw there tell us a lot about the causes and consequences of the problems in
Lake Elmo and what needs to be done to fix that government's problems.
The solution in part lies in elected officials learning how to act like mature adults and rememberingto place the
public interest ahead of petty politics, and if they cannot do that, the public has to take appropriate action at the
next election.
There are powerful parallels between what happened in Maplewood, Roseville, and now Lake Elmo. Let's focus on
Maplewood. The problems there —10 years ago — arose out of petty personal attacks and private agendas that
overshadowed policy disagreements. Three candidates, two for city council and one for mayor, won an election
with low voter turnout. They clearly had a different set of political ideas for the city than the other council
members. Nothing wrong with that. The problem was in how all the parties were unable to work together and how
it was personal from the start.
Some of the problem was rooted in how some of the new members clashed with the incumbents regarding
treatment of family members,jobs, and coverage on local public access television prior to the former taking office.
Once the new mayor and council members took office they dismissed a long-term city manager and replaced him
with one of their own. There was tension between two clear factions that emerged, and career staff and
department heads were caught in the middle of all this. I was originally brought in to help with agenda -setting but
was then asked to explore ways to address the factionalism and offer suggestions. I was given full access to
interview all the elected officials and staff, and all but one agreed to talk to me.
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8/16/2016 David Schultz: What I learned in Maplewood that might be useful in Lake Elmo —Twin Cities
It was clear that there were political and ideological differences over many issues. Again, nothing wrong with that.
But I learned that the new council members and the mayor also engaged in practices that I considered
questionable. They met outside of regular meetings to resolve policy issues in violation of state open meeting laws.
I documented council members openly bad-mouth their staffs, declaring that they were all corrupt or incompetent.
There were also specific cases of department heads being retaliated against for personal reasons.
I never concluded that the problems in Maplewood were simply that of political disagreement. Policy difference
and debate, however robust, are good and ought to be encouraged. The problem was when the debate turned
acrimonious, when disagreement became personal, and when council members turned petty. It seemed that the
two factions could not trust one another, and after a while simply they did not talk to one another.
For nearly 20 years I have taught government ethics classes or advised local governments. My experience working
in city government goes about more than 30 years. I have served on the National Civic League commission to draft
the most recent model city charter that describes the best practices for municipal governance. I mention this
because some of my recommendations for Maplewood were about governance — constructing appropriate
conflict-of-interest and other policies for the city or developing rules for public input.
But governance is notjust about rules and procedures, it is also about personal ethics and leadership. One of the
surest signs that there is an ethical breakdown is when those in leadership fail to remember that they are trustees
for the public and that government is meant to serve the people and not their own narrow political agendas. That
was the real problem in Maplewood.
The lessons of Maplewood were also about respecting boundaries. There are appropriate and inappropriate roles
for elected officials in terms of what they can and should do. In Maplewood, one council member before he took
office regularly drank with friends and bad-mouthed the local officials. Once he got elected he continued to do the
same. This type of behavior does not encourage working together. As I concluded in my June 2006 report: "I do not
know how to make a recommendation regarding basic civility and maturity. The meaning of being a professional is
placing personal animosities off to the side and leaning how to work for a collective good."
The aim of my report was to hold public officials accountable for their behavior and give them an opportunity to fix
the problems. In the short term they did not and the result was at the next election the voters spoke and removed
the individuals whom they thought responsible for the problems.
This is the message to elected officials in Lake Elmo. If you cannot find a way to work past your differences the
voters will fix the problem at the next election.
David Schultz is a political science professor at Hamline University and editor of the Journal of Public Affairs
Education.
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