One of the most basic things to remember for a public office holder is to show up. Show up when the public needs to be heard. Show up when the public needs to hear from you. Show up.
That applies to those who already hold that office as well as those who want to hold that office. Paul Homme used to say “The world belongs to those who show up” and I believe it.
A bunch of us who buy into the idea of showing up did just that last week when the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities (CGMC) held their summer conference in Winona. There were mayors and city managers in attendance from CGMC member cities from all around the state.
The conference is a good chance to compare notes with other city officials, to make and renew some connections and to plant the seeds for working together for the programs and funding that all cities need. It is a good time to renew the connections we have with other river cities around Minnesota. We also get a chance to plan our advocacy for additional money for more of the flood mitigation work that seemed to work so well during last spring’s high water.
Of course, showing up is really the easy part. Getting heard and making sure that your message gets remembered is always a challenge. Having some other folks to help deliver that message and help with the effort makes it more likely to succeed. You might stumble but its always worth trying and you can’t do that unless you show up.
One interesting outcome of showing up was a chance to sit down and compare notes with Wadena Mayor Wayne Wolden who also happens to be the past president of the CGMC. The Wadena area is working hard at cleaning up and rebuilding from the tornado that hit their town in June, The recovery there has taken a very familiar path. The more we talked about it all, the more it seemed that our cities’ experience was much the same. It was uncanny how many similar experiences we shared.
Wadena saw over 300 homes damaged including somewhere between 50 and 60 that have been or will be demolished. In July of 2000, Granite Falls had around 350 homes damaged including the 67 homes that were destroyed or had to be demolished.
Granite Falls didn’t lose a high school building like Wadena did but we did lose buildings at Project Turnabout and both towns had businesses damaged and a large part of their municipal electric utility destroyed.
Both cities had damage that pointed to tornado winds that were near or above 200 mph. Both communities are county seats and both cities’ own staff had valuable help from the local county highway department personnel and equipment to help clean up the area. Both cities had valuable help from their county sheriff’s office and from area fire departments to assist with security and public safety.
There were wonderfully generous volunteers by the hundreds who worked and worked. There were a huge number of donations in both cities. It went on and on. We could have talked about it all night.
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One of the most basic things to remember for a public office holder is to show up. Show up when the public needs to be heard. Show up when the public needs to hear from you. Show up.
That applies to those who already hold that office as well as those who want to hold that office. Paul Homme used to say “The world belongs to those who show up” and I believe it.
A bunch of us who buy into the idea of showing up did just that last week when the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities (CGMC) held their summer conference in Winona. There were mayors and city managers in attendance from CGMC member cities from all around the state.
The conference is a good chance to compare notes with other city officials, to make and renew some connections and to plant the seeds for working together for the programs and funding that all cities need. It is a good time to renew the connections we have with other river cities around Minnesota. We also get a chance to plan our advocacy for additional money for more of the flood mitigation work that seemed to work so well during last spring’s high water.
Of course, showing up is really the easy part. Getting heard and making sure that your message gets remembered is always a challenge. Having some other folks to help deliver that message and help with the effort makes it more likely to succeed. You might stumble but its always worth trying and you can’t do that unless you show up.
One interesting outcome of showing up was a chance to sit down and compare notes with Wadena Mayor Wayne Wolden who also happens to be the past president of the CGMC. The Wadena area is working hard at cleaning up and rebuilding from the tornado that hit their town in June, The recovery there has taken a very familiar path. The more we talked about it all, the more it seemed that our cities’ experience was much the same. It was uncanny how many similar experiences we shared.
Wadena saw over 300 homes damaged including somewhere between 50 and 60 that have been or will be demolished. In July of 2000, Granite Falls had around 350 homes damaged including the 67 homes that were destroyed or had to be demolished.
Granite Falls didn’t lose a high school building like Wadena did but we did lose buildings at Project Turnabout and both towns had businesses damaged and a large part of their municipal electric utility destroyed.
Both cities had damage that pointed to tornado winds that were near or above 200 mph. Both communities are county seats and both cities’ own staff had valuable help from the local county highway department personnel and equipment to help clean up the area. Both cities had valuable help from their county sheriff’s office and from area fire departments to assist with security and public safety.
There were wonderfully generous volunteers by the hundreds who worked and worked. There were a huge number of donations in both cities. It went on and on. We could have talked about it all night.
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The speaker at the conference’s Thursday night dinner was Kerri Miller from Minnesota Public Radio and her topic was the media’s relationship with public officials and particularly local officials. There was a lot of back and forth between her and the audience. A few of us who have used the media to get the word out about one incident or another had a few observations to share. Again, the Wadena mayor’s recent experience and that of several other communities made for some lively discussion. Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak, who received an award as a friend of Greater Minnesota cities, sat at our table and talked about handling information during the 35W bridge collapse. It was a fun conversation that, once again, made you glad that you showed up.
Earlier that day the CGMC held a debate for the candidates who are running for governor. The challenging times make for some very tough questions. The moderator was Pat Lopez, political editor at the Star Tribune. She had plenty of preparation and was not willing to accept a fluffy answer that skirted her questions about tax policy and their views about state aid to cities. She kept the candidates on their toes and made the hour fly right by. Too bad that not all of them bothered to show up.
DFL candidate Mark Dayton was there and so was Independent Party candidate Tom Horner but Republican Tom Emmer was a no show. What was that about the world belonging to those who show up? Well, apparently seeing city representatives from Luverne to Ely and Winona to International Falls wasn’t important enough to arrange his schedule. This had been planned for weeks and one of the conflicts that kept Emmer away was also on the schedules for the other candidates but they managed to be in Winona anyway. Emmer also had a fund raiser in the metro area to attend that day.
Too bad for us and for him.
I know it can be hard to manage multiple events on the same day especially when travel times are long but we do need a governor who will show up when the public needs to be heard and show up when the public needs to hear from him. The other candidates left the audience with fairly good impressions by all accounts. Those city managers and mayors like folks who bother to show up.
When you work for the public, you need to do that.
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Speaking of showing up, only two people filed for the four seats on the YME school board. I hope a couple of well-intended folks decide to take up a write-in campaign and work to get elected. We all need good candidates for those seats. Thanks to Grant Velde and Dawn Odegard for placing their names on the ballot.
