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Leadership
Leadership comes from every walk of life in various forms, shapes and
sizes. For this purpose we are very concerned about leadership in the
governance of the City of Burnsville.
There are issues that have created a divisive, antagonistic atmosphere
among great numbers of Burnsville residents because of the actions of
some of our city elected officials, as well as some of their appointed
staff. A great leadership team, starting at the top, will bring the citizens
together, rather than create a chasm for the constituents.
We see as one reason for this division coming about because of what
is perceived as the "the holier than thou" and the "I know better than
you what you want" posture and deeds of certain city leaders. One
only has to turn to the cable replays of council meetings for examples
of rudeness, eye-rolling and just plain disrespect of fellow council
members and citizens. It seems that if a citizen is in opposition to a pre-
ordained outcome, nothing one can say will make a difference. If a city
leader is not respectful of a citizen who makes a point of attending and
speaking at a public meeting for all their neighbors to see, how does
meeting citizens at a local café demonstrate a true willingness to listen
to and respect citizens with opposing viewpoints?
Notably, the actions concerning the Performing Arts Center taken by
three council members – Gustafson, Kautz and Workman – resulted in a
local paper declaring the issue the story of the year. That declaration
was not for the positive aspect, but because of the controversy and
angst it brought out for a wide segment of Burnsville citizens.
Members of our group talked with hundreds and hundreds of people
who felt betrayed by the lack of citizen input on this issue alone, the
lack of understanding for the people, the disregard for the will of the
people and, mostly, the void in effective leadership on the part of
those responsible.
This is only one of the many issues that are affected by weak
leadership.
This weakness in leadership is reflected not only in the areas
mentioned above, but is manifested in their wasteful spending of tax
dollars for the benefit of a handful of special interest groups,
ineffective communication with the public, efforts to create bigger (not
better) government, tax and spend mentality, among others. Their
greatest accomplishment was that they led the way with the highest
increase in taxes for any of the county tax levies.
The name of our group, PositiveChangeforBurnsville, says it all. We
are committed to, and devoted to, bringing about a change to those
who govern our city, and, very importantly, to bring a positive, forward
approach to city hall.
There is a great need for change, and the time for change is here.
Leadership comes from every walk of life in various forms, shapes and
sizes. For this purpose we are very concerned about leadership in the
governance of the City of Burnsville.
There are issues that have created a divisive, antagonistic atmosphere
among great numbers of Burnsville residents because of the actions of
some of our city elected officials, as well as some of their appointed
staff. A great leadership team, starting at the top, will bring the citizens
together, rather than create a chasm for the constituents.
We see as one reason for this division coming about because of what
is perceived as the "the holier than thou" and the "I know better than
you what you want" posture and deeds of certain city leaders. One
only has to turn to the cable replays of council meetings for examples
of rudeness, eye-rolling and just plain disrespect of fellow council
members and citizens. It seems that if a citizen is in opposition to a pre-
ordained outcome, nothing one can say will make a difference. If a city
leader is not respectful of a citizen who makes a point of attending and
speaking at a public meeting for all their neighbors to see, how does
meeting citizens at a local café demonstrate a true willingness to listen
to and respect citizens with opposing viewpoints?
Notably, the actions concerning the Performing Arts Center taken by
three council members – Gustafson, Kautz and Workman – resulted in a
local paper declaring the issue the story of the year. That declaration
was not for the positive aspect, but because of the controversy and
angst it brought out for a wide segment of Burnsville citizens.
Members of our group talked with hundreds and hundreds of people
who felt betrayed by the lack of citizen input on this issue alone, the
lack of understanding for the people, the disregard for the will of the
people and, mostly, the void in effective leadership on the part of
those responsible.
This is only one of the many issues that are affected by weak
leadership.
This weakness in leadership is reflected not only in the areas
mentioned above, but is manifested in their wasteful spending of tax
dollars for the benefit of a handful of special interest groups,
ineffective communication with the public, efforts to create bigger (not
better) government, tax and spend mentality, among others. Their
greatest accomplishment was that they led the way with the highest
increase in taxes for any of the county tax levies.
The name of our group, PositiveChangeforBurnsville, says it all. We
are committed to, and devoted to, bringing about a change to those
who govern our city, and, very importantly, to bring a positive, forward
approach to city hall.
There is a great need for change, and the time for change is here.
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