Three Reasons local officials make dumb decisions
Monday, February 16th, 2009
I am often asked … Why did they do THAT?
Whatever THAT may be.
I have found there are basically three reasons  local elected officials make dumb decisions.
1) Local elected officials are novices. In their “real life” they are professionals but once they start serving on a local government body they start as novices. They have no idea at all what kind of decisions they will be asked to make. But, they will be required to make decisions on issues they have no experience. Good judgement comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement. Add to the fact the average length of time a local official serves (4-5 years) there is a constant turnover of novices. Mistakes are inevitable.
2) Local elected officials many times deal with problems. A problem is an issue which has no good solution. If it did have a good solution it would be an opportunity, not a problem. Since there is no good solution no matter what decision they make could be considered dumb.
3) Many times local elected officials are accused of keeping secrets from the citizens. Quite often it is just the opposite. Citizens who have knowledge on an issue do not give that input in a timely fashion. They keep their knowledge a secret. Without timely and knowledgeable input on issues, bad decisions can be reached.
So, there you have it.
Every time a dumb decision is made by a local governing body the reason “why” can be found in one of those reasons.
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