Sunday, May 3, 2009
If You Say “No” You Need to be Part of the Solution
The easiest thing in the world is to say, “No.” How many times have you been with someone and said, “Where should we go to lunch?” and the reply comes, “I don’t care.” However, when you suggest someplace, they say, “No, I don’t want to go there…” So they really DID care! You can play that game forever, suggesting new things as the person just shoots down idea after idea. My next question after that is, “OK, where do you want to go?” If they say they don’t care again, you remind them that you already made a suggestion and they did care and said, “No.” At that point, they need to start being part of the solution instead of simply objecting.
The same thing goes for my role at work. I have to say “No” about a number of things, but I try to offer an alternative. I TRY to do this in other areas of my life, although in some situations it becomes very difficult. The Village Hall is one such issue. Problem is, I don’t see a solution that works that will get the support it needs to be implemented. We keep bouncing around, looking for the right answer, the one that works for everyone on cost, location, and providing the needed space. It is a tall order, almost a no win situation. And to tell you the truth, I am not sure it is one we will resolve.
Another is the subject of the Village becoming a city. At a recent joint meeting of the Village Council with the Scio Township Board, Donna Palmer, the Treasurer for Scio, raised the issue of costs associated with becoming a city. An independent group, the City Study Committee (which included no members of Council and a cross section of people from the community), determined the additional costs for the Village in becoming a city were less than $50,000 per year. That is measured against the more than $250,000 paid to Scio and Webster Township every year. So the question is, “If there is some level of cost that the Village would have to bear, and the townships believe those costs are not being accounted correctly, what do the townships propose as an alternative?” If the issue is truly costs, how about the townships refund to the Village all taxes paid and charge the Village for services received? How about we just get an accounting from the townships of what services they provide, so we know the actual costs? It is not that difficult - assessing, Board of Review for assessing, and elections. Neither township provides police or fire service for the Village. Neither dedicate any funds from Open Space millages to the Village, even though the Village pays a sizable amount of money into those funds. How about the townships earmark open space money collected from the Village for land in and around the Village? (like Gordon Hall…)
What is the REAL objection here? Is it really the costs? Or are those nay-sayers just saying, “No,” for some other reason? There are arguments to be made for not becoming a city, although personally I think they pale in comparison to the benefits, monetarily in terms of taxes and based on services to Village citizens. Let’s have an open and honest debate about becoming a city, based on the facts where facts apply, and a discussion about benefits to the citizens of a village vs. a city where there are no objective measurements. What we cannot have is people on either side of the discussion just saying, “No.” It just won’t work for an informed debate.
