Academy of Local Politics

Planning.

Call it Comprehensive Planning, call it Strategic Planning, call it whatever you want, communities need to plan. I do not have a lot of time for people who believe local governments should just jump from one crisis to another without any thought of the consequences of their actions.

Natick, MA takes their planning very seriously.

Pay no attention to the year on the official state signs marking town lines. The sign may say the town was established in 1675, or 1730, or 1810, but each of our communities is being constantly re-established. Old residents are dying or moving out. New people and businesses are moving in.

So the fabric of community must be constantly reknitted. How do you do that?

Natick was established in 1651, and has been changing ever since. It has a lot going for it: commercial vitality, excellent schools, a reputation as a safe, vibrant community. It also faces maladies common to 21st century towns: apathy about local politics, a gap between old-timers and newcomers, problems matching public resources to public expectations and a vague sense that the townspeople aren't in control of the town's destiny.

So Natick's leaders launched a strategic planning process to try to wrap their arms - and those of the townspeople - around the town's present and future. They brought to it the same professionalism and commitment major corporations invest in strategic planning. They hired outside consultants who did surveys and held focus groups. They reached out with energy and creativity, involving 10 percent of Natick households in a two-year exercise to identify how they see their town now and what they'd like it to become.

I told you they took their planning seriously!

"Natick 360" got the town on the same page. Through it, Natickites identified shared values, a common vision and a set of action steps to guide town officials. It endorsed statements like this: "We value Natick's 'small-town' sense as a safe, interconnected community fed by its heritage, pride and spirit of volunteerism, and by its diversity, derived from its tradition of affordability and welcoming nature."

Do you feel a kumbaya moment coming?

Then, as if on cue, reality stepped in, in the form of a bitter fight over the nickname of the Natick High sports teams. The School Committee, after hearing objections from American Indians and others, voted to drop the "Redmen" nickname after 50 years. Outraged Natick High alumni protested the assault on tradition and put a question on the town election ballot asking the decision be reconsidered. The question won, but the School Committee stood by its decision, and the argument continues.

The Redmen fight put Natick 360's visions and values in perspective. The harmony of the "interconnected community" turned to discord. Respect for diversity was pitted against appreciation of heritage. Proud "Natick natives" ridiculed the "politically correct" newcomers.

For all the emotions raised in the course of the extended Redmen debate, leading participants went out of their way to show respect for their opponents and a willingness to listen. That may be a credit to Natick 360; it's certainly a credit to Natick.

I am sure this controversy was much more contentious than the article indicated. In fact I am sure this controversy became down right nasty at times.

But, think how much worse it would have been if they hadn't been working on an ever changing community plan for the future?

Plan people... Plan.

I don't know how many times someone has described a "situation" with me and ask me what I think. I almost always reply, "I don't know because I haven't heard the other side of the story."

There is ALWAYS another side of a story. ALWAYS!

Seldom is the two sides of a story as different as this one from the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Accused of misconduct and of violating one of the laws he was sworn to uphold, an allegedly bar-friendly St. Croix County police chief awaits his fate from a five-member panel.

Police Chief Ricci Prein, 51, the top cop in the Village of Roberts, is accused of searching inappropriate Web sites while on duty and, on at least three occasions, drinking in a village bar after business hours.

After more than 12 hours of testimony, the independent Police Review Board for the village of about 1,300 began deliberations Tuesday on five counts of misconduct that could result in Prein's suspension or firing.

The chief, who was placed on paid leave from his $46,000-a-year job, also is accused of acting unprofessionally toward his subordinate officers, members of the public and village board members.

"Each of these items, standing alone, would be grounds for dismissal," said Michael Brose, the village's attorney, addressing the panel. "No reasonable employer would employ him."

However, Roger Palek, an attorney with the Wisconsin Professional Police Association who represents Prein, said the investigation and resulting complaint were flawed and political in nature.

He compared the proceedings to a circus and said the most serious allegation — drinking after hours in a Main Street bar — had been addressed by the then-village president in a verbal reprimand and resulted in no charges being filed by the St. Croix County district attorney.

According to the complaint and officers called to testify Tuesday, Prein was drinking at 5 a.m. Dec. 23, 2006, in the LM Bar with the bar owner, and both were "very intoxicated."

Prein said he was not drinking beer but rather root beer. He said he wasn't intoxicated but may have appeared so after being awake for nearly 30 hours and was only helping clean up the bar. 

Two sides to a story?

Officers also testified they saw Prein use his village computer to view pictures of nude and semi-nude women. A forensic computer analysis found Prein linked to sites that didn't appear pornographic but did show swimsuit models, some topless, more than 700 times between 2005 and 2008.

While Prein's wife testified that she had performed several of the searches when she was shopping for a swimsuit, Prein told the panel he should not have gone to the sites.

I was drinking Root Beer ... and my wife was shopping for a swimsuit.

The Chief is making it very hard to believe his side of the story.

Personnel decisions. The hardest part of being a local elected official is dealing with personnel decisions. It starts with the hiring process and follows all the way through to the firing process. If someone is a local elected official for any length of time at all, they will be involved in a personnel controversy of some kind.

The Ashland Daily Press tells us the story of a personnel decision that had to be made by the Ashland (WI) School Board...

Two Ashland High School golf coaches recently turned the chaperone relationship upside down by leaving their team alone in a New Richmond hotel while they went out drinking, and then making a student pick up the pieces after one was arrested for driving drunk.

Former head coach John Nuutinen and assistant coach Jeff Castle have since been dismissed from their coaching duties, according to parent accounts, school board members' testimony and district documents obtained through an open records request.

The 32-year-old Castle, who was arrested by the New Richmond Police Department for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, was not a district employee but a volunteer coach. Nuutinen, 40, served as the head coach in addition to teaching technical education, which he continues to do at Ashland High School. Nuutinen received a two-day unpaid suspension, in addition to other sanctions set forth in a May 28 letter from AHS Principal Norb Philipsek.

The story is worthy of a Three Stooges script.

It started as a routine extracurricular trip, with the golf team leaving Ashland on May 26 for the next day's sectional at Bristol Ridge Golf Course in Somerset. A parent, who wished to remain anonymous because they still have a child attending school in the district, said the team went down a day early so they could play a practice round on the course.

According to police reports, district documents and parent and student testimony, the trouble began after the practice round. Sometime after 7 p.m. on May 26, the coaches left the team unattended at their hotel in New Richmond, which is approximately eight miles from Somerset.

The pair left for "dinner and drinks" in a school van driven by Castle, according to the May 28 letter from Philipsek. (Castle had to be the driver, as Nuutinen's license was revoked in January because of a conviction in Ashland County Circuit Court of driving under the influence of alcohol.)

The police report states that at approximately 1:55 a.m. the next morning, a New Richmond police officer heard "multiple male voices yelling and hollering" on a street about one mile north of the hotel. The officer then spotted three men — Nuutinen, Castle, and an unidentified golf coach from another district — cross the street and enter the district van.

As the police officer followed the van driven by Castle, he witnessed it continuously weave inside and outside its lane of traffic and drift across the double yellow lines, according to the police report. The officer followed the van and pulled in behind it in the hotel parking lot.

"I was directly behind the van with my emergency lights on and my spotlight illuminated on the van," the officer wrote. "The driver then put the van in reverse and began to back up. I began to take evasive action to avoid a collision, however, the van did stop and then pull forward again and come to a complete stop."

The officer then performed a series of field sobriety tests on Castle, all of which indicated Castle was intoxicated. A subsequent breath test revealed that Castle had a .14 blood alcohol level, almost double the legal limit of .08.

While Castle responded cooperatively and commented to officers that he knew he had "screwed up," the police report indicates Nuutinen was less compliant.

"Mr. Nuutinen appeared very intoxicated and lied to the police," the report states, without indicating the nature of the "lie."

The police report said Nuutinen, who was released, told officers he would get an 18-year-old member of the team to come and sign for Castle's release.  

Shortly after 3 a.m., the senior team member did get the message — though not from Nuutinen, according to the parent who wished to remain anonymous.

"The cops called and he did go to the coach's room," the parent said. "(Nuutinen) was laying across the bed with all his clothes on, and (the student) tried shaking him awake and he wouldn't wake up. So (the student) took the keys so he could go pick up the other coach."

The student, who also wished to remain anonymous, confirmed this account.

Castle was released into the custody of the student at 3:35 a.m., according to the report. The officers instructed the student to not allow Castle or Nuutinen to drive the district vehicle. The student transported the team and coaches to that morning's tournament, where a sober adult who had driven from Ashland that day helped drive the students home.

OK. The volunteer assistant coach is gone. Fired from the unpaid job.

But the Coach?

Two day unpaid suspension and not allowed to coach again?

The comments from the locals after the story on the web, are wide and varied.

From a unbiased distance what do you think?

Good decision by the School Board...or the punishment doesn't fit the crime?

While snooping around the 13th Floor of Governing.Com I learned...

Cities battling theft of copper wire? Old news.

The big story now is about disappearing manhole covers.

In Philadelphia...More than 2,500 covers and grates have disappeared in the past year, up from an annual average of about 100.

Thieves have so thoroughly stripped some neighborhoods on the city’s north and southwest sides that some blocks look like slalom courses, dotted with orange cones to warn drivers and pedestrians of gaping holes, some nearly 30 feet deep.

The skyrocketing costs of iron and steel mean thieves can get a nice price for the purloined covers, from $5 up to $30 or $40, depending on the size. It's a problem plaguing cities across the country:

Phoenix has lost more than 160 of its manhole covers and street storm drains this year, up from 10 last year.

More than 80 drains and manhole covers have been stolen in Long Beach, Calif., this year and at least two local car owners who drove over the open chambers have filed claims against the city.

Starting last year, such thefts in Cleveland, Memphis, Miami and Milwaukee have more than doubled compared with other years, although New York reports no such increase.

Can a federal manhole bailout program for cities be far behind?

After all, It is an election year.

I guess the place to start is the beginning.

Before I even arrived in Tipton I spotted a site that I didn't know still existed. Along the highway, in the small communities of Iowa, students gather to be transported to the corn fields to detassle the corn. Technology can't do everything.

Anyway...

I arrived in Tipton shortly before noon on Friday. There was already a large number of tents being set up. All over town, tents were being set up. The riders hadn't even really started to arrive but the housing for this traveling city of 20,000 was being readied. 

One of the first signs I saw read, PORK THIS WAY. A little Iowa humor.

My sister in law was talking with a Priest who was a RAGBRAI veteran, that wasn't riding this year. He said he learned over the years if you see one rider going down into the corn stalks... they were taking a piss. If you saw a couple head for the corn stalks they were going to ...kiss. If you saw three or more riders head into the corn stalks they were going to smoke pot.

There are the riders who take up this challenge as a biking experience. Over seven days can they zig zag across the state of Iowa and survive? Then, there are riders who take up this challenge as a party experience. Over seven days and seven nights can they zig zag across the state of Iowa and survive? It seemed to me the riders were equally divided into these two groups.

They did party hard in Tipton. As they did in North Liberty the night before. In North Liberty there were only six arrests. The North Liberty Police Chief was quoted as saying..."If you got arrested last night, it was because you were too intoxicated for your own safety, or you talked yourself into an arrest.

How well behaved in general is this group of people. Let me tell you.

There were thousands and thousands of people in downtown Tipton.

Yet, despite that fact, this row of flowers lining the sidewalk that was located in the midst of twelve hours of festivities...not one flower was trampled the next morning. Not one!

I had earlier made the estimate of the bikers spending on average $20 each. According to tourism officials, bikers are not known to be big spenders. HA!

This group spent money like a bunch of drunkin' bikers. While there were long, long lines at every food booth and in the beer garden...the longest lines were at the ATM machines. So, my revised economic impact is now... $50 average for the crowd of 20,000. Million bucks into this little  community in one night. Easy. And they didn't even trample the flowers.

The next morning the clean up crews got to work and by noon hardly a trace of RAGBRAI was left.

The citizens of Tipton could start to use their cell phones again. (It was a little tough getting a call through for a few hours with that many people trying to make calls.)

Tipton came through with flying colors. The event happened without any hitches.

I thought many times about attempting to ride across Iowa next year.

I decided I don't have the dedication needed to train.

I can't party for seven nights in a row anymore.