Editor’s Note: This is the first in a regular column by Springfield City Manager Greg Burris on the business of running the city.If you were Springfield’s city manager, what do you think your biggest challenge would be?
You probably can come up with a long list of possibilities. The budget? Initiative petitions? Being forced to implement illegal voter-approved ordinances, such as the recent E-Verify bill? Learning to fold a fitted sheet?
Well, for me, the biggest challenge is civic engagement, or rather, the lack of civic engagement – although trying to fold a fitted sheet is a close second.
Greene County just hosted an election with a seemingly controversial public safety tax on the ballot. For some, there also were Springfield Public Schools and Ozarks Technical Community College board members to be selected on the same ballot. The result at the ballot box was an 11 percent voter turnout rate.
This makes me wonder, what type of ballot initiative would result in a 75 percent voter turnout rate? Do complex and controversial issues attract voters to the ballot box, or does that same complexity repel them from voting, assuming that others are better informed on the issue and hoping others will make the “right” choice?
I don’t know. I only know that we need to figure out a better way to communicate with you. Maybe we’ll try some unconventional methods – stay tuned.
I understand that trust in government at all levels is low. According to the most recent CNN/ORC International Poll released in September, 15 percent of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what’s right just about always or most of the time. Seventy-seven percent of people questioned say they trust the federal government only some of the time, and an additional eight percent said they never trust the government.
I also know that local government gets painted with the same broad brush as the federal and state governments. Heck, the word “government” has now become such a “dirty word,” I almost didn’t use it in my column for fear that some readers would stop reading as soon as they came across it.
It’s similar to how the word “compromise” has become unpopular. Instead, we have extremists on both sides trying to out-shout each other, while the moderates in the middle are left to wonder what is going on and how to turn down the volume.
In future columns, I will try to keep you up-to-date on not only what is going on in Springfield, but I’ll also try to let you “see behind the curtain” to learn about interesting activities, complexities and strategies that go into some of the decisions that impact the lives of those who live, work and play in Springfield.
For instance, did you know during the worst recession in 50 years the city’s bond rating went up – to Aa1, according to Moody’s? Did you know Springfield and Greene County were top-5 job producers in the country last year, according to researchers at 24/7 Wall St., using data obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics?
Future columns will note such facts and provide the analyses behind them. We might even tackle a controversial issue or two.
Greg Burris is the city of Springfield’s 12th city manager. He joined the city staff in 2008, after a 25-year stint with Missouri State University. He can be reached at gburris@springfieldmo.gov.[[In-content Ad]]
