Opinion: City audit reaction more damning than findings

Really, who wants to wake up in the morning and find your salary, car allowance and the exact number of times you called a travel agent instead of logging on to Priceline.com all over your newspaper’s front page or covered live from your driveway by an overzealous TV reporter on a slow news day?

My concern is not about conducting an audit; rather, I have deep ambivalence about the resulting “public flogging” of good people and their good work. I have three points.

First, city and CU staff are employed by us, but not managed by us. That is an important distinction. We elect people to make sure our interests are protected. If we have a problem with the outcome of the audit, then our problem should be with the people we selected to sit at some large, faux-wood conference table who approved these front-page budget figures.

The members of Springfield City Council and the Board of Public Utilities should be held responsible for the numbers that we question.

Second, I am convinced that as a result of the audit, we should immediately focus our attention on the quality of the product we are receiving from both the city and CU.

You see, I do not care what Michael Dell pocketed last year in salary and benefits if the Dell Inspiron 700m I am using right now continues to operate flawlessly. Neither do I care if CU foots the bill for potential leaders from Central High School to have lunch on my nickel. Do my lights stay on with reliability? Do I get a quick response if I smell natural gas in my home? Is my monthly bill consistently correct?

If, as a consumer, I am disappointed with the services I receive as a taxpayer, then I have larger concerns than the city manager’s luncheon entertainment allowance.

Third, audits are necessary and unpleasant. I do not know anyone in either the public or private sector who says to me, “Wow, I just cannot wait until the state auditor shows up!” That is a little like eagerly anticipating your next colonoscopy.

The easy choice right now is to get out our red felt-tip pens and start making our public leaders kneel and knuckle. What will that diatribe do but tarnish the reputation of a community we say we love?

We have come full circle.

The audit will be history in a few more days. The financial nitpicking has the shelf life of Christmas decorations at Wal-Mart.

I am back to where I started. The residue of this paper tiger front page story will be … fewer people who want positions of leadership in our community government.

Good leaders are hard to find. Outstanding leaders are individuals who have high self-esteem, can emotionally connect with those who follow their directives, demonstrate expertise in their professional disciplines and constantly confront and eradicate mediocrity.

Nobel Prize-winning zoologist Sir Peter Medawar recently summarized our dilemma finding competent leaders with this statement: “Dull or piffling problems yield dull or piffling answers.” We have to be careful that our episodic, audit-driven witch hunts do not leave us with dull and piffling leaders.

Audits are the annual checkup, but they are not the cure for our diseases. The easy response is to get exercised with platitudes by pundits who prognosticate that this is the time to clean house.

Cleaning our house is not the issue. Leading the house is the pressing issue.

The public sector is having a more difficult time finding visionary, bold leaders. Not only is the pay far below what the private sector has at the end of its carrot stick, but there often is an ill-informed electorate who regularly convulses with spittle-sprinkled invectives that usually end with, “… and by the way, I pay your salary.”

When I travel, I keep saying to people outside of this community, “I live in a wonderful part of the country and the city and its services are extraordinary.” If we love living here, then it is time to learn from the audit, let our elected officials know what needs to be fixed and go back to our bragging.

Cal LeMon of Executive Enrichment Inc. solves organizational problems with customized training and consulting. He can be reached at execenrichment@aol.com.[[In-content Ad]]