Today is a Council meeting day. A Council meeting day is usually a busy day. There are lots of calls and short meetings to make sure that everything is ready for the Council to act on tonight. The worst thing a city staff person can do at a Council meeting is to be unprepared or under-prepared.
The calls and the short meetings that I appreciate the most fall into the category of the “heads up” call/meeting. These are the calls that I receive from Council Members and staff members giving me advance notice of a question or concern that they plan to raise in that evening’s Council meeting. These heads up calls are so important to me. They allow to be better prepared for the Council meeting. They allow Council Members to be better prepared to make better decisions. Win-win.
I have worked in other cities and 40+ other City Council Members during my twenty years as a city manager. In other cities, I’ve worked for Council Members who were more interested in playing political gotcha with City staff at City Council meetings than in making good decisions for the community. That was not a good environment in which to work. The Council did not benefit from this kind of behavior either. Lose-lose.
My experience with the Eden Prairie City Council in this area has been fantastic since the day I got here in April 2002. Compared to my city manager colleagues, I am very fortunate in this regard. For example, for tonight’s Council meeting I got a heads up call from each of my five Council Members on the following topics:
+ A Council Member had concerns about the new public assembly ordinance we are recommending. The Council Member told me that she was going to raise a question to make sure the ordinance did not cover private events on private property.
+ A Council Member called to tell me that he was going to recommend that City staff update a report from last year that outlined the City’s account fund balances.
+ A Council Member called me to let me know that he was going to speak on the heritage preservation status of a barn and whether that barn’s status was holding up a needed road project.
+ A Council Member called me to tell me that she would not be able to attend the meeting tonight, which was critical to know because we had an item on the agenda that required a vote of all five Council Members.
+ A Council Member called me to learn a few more details about the person and the gift that was being offered to the City for a park redevelopment project.
The heads up call is part of the culture of being a City Council Member in Eden Prairie. They know its important. They expect each other to do it. They understand that the heads up call results in getting them better information which helps them make better decisions. Council wins because they make better decisions. Staff wins because we are offered the opportunity to be better prepared at the Council meeting. And most importantly, the community wins because better decisions benefit them.
Win-Win-Win.
