A Town Manager for Culver

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David Schoeff

It appears that Culver will be without a Town Manager again.  Dave Schoeff‘s resignation was announced in the Culver Citizen last week.  Our track record on retention for this position hasn’t been great, but I think good things have come from this position and I hope the Council will move quickly to fill it.

I have been involved with the Town Manager issue from the beginning.  I was involved with the Culver Second Century Committee through the Mary Means & Associates Needs Assessment and the Ratio Architects Charrette (1998).  The subject of a Town Manager was discussed in both of these.  When the first Town Manager was hired, a task force was formed including Town personnel and members of the public.  I was one of the latter.  Other task force members included Chandra Meavis (Town Clerk), Russ Mason (Councilman) and Lance Overmyer (Fire Chief).

The task force spent a considerable amount of time doing an internal assessment.  I have to admit that I was skeptical that it could work in Culver, but after listening to presentations from three different Town Managers from area communities of a similar size, I was swayed to believe that Culver could truly benefit from the creation of this position.  What made the difference for me was that two of the Town Managers that we interviewed had no formal training in government, but were good managers and were extremely effective in organizing their respective towns to run better because of this.

The task force took on the creation of a job description and the creation of a chain-of-command hierarchy.  We also defined the function of the department liaisons, something that was a carry over from before we had a Town Manager.  From there we wrote the ads for the position and culled the applicants down to three.  At that point, the Town Council joined us in interviewing the final three applicants and our first Town Manager, Mr. Jeffrey Sheridan, was selected.  The task force was disbanded at that point.  In retrospect, that may have been a mistake.  Our experience in researching and defining the position may have been useful in working with the new Town Manager and the Town Council in order to make the position successful.  Since I was not a Council Member, I was not briefed on all the “problems” that led to Mr. Sheridan leaving, but at least some of those problems regarded issues that we thought we had settled.  (Jeff went on to serve as the Town of Cumberland Town Manager for 8 years and is currently the Tipton County Economic Development Director.)

Since that time we have had four other Town Managers bringing the total to 5 in 10 years.  All resigned for different reasons.  All five Town Managers advanced the agenda of the Town and were able to accomplish things that part-time Council Members cannot be expected to handle.  In the time before and between Town Managers, much of the administrative work has fallen on the Clerk Treasurer.  This is not fair to the Clerk Treasurer as they have other responsibilities and often their need to work with the employees and the Council makes it difficult to also wear the hat of “manager”.

I’m concerned that the limited retention rate of Town Managers in Culver will affect our ability to hire another.  From past experience, the task of replacing the town manager has been tedious and slow.  In the interim, projects languish and at times past advancements are lost.  Hopefully the Council has already begun advertising the position.

David Schoeff Image Source: The Pilot News

Town Hall Image Source:  Town of Culver

Colts Game

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Colts Entry 10-5-14I was pleased to be the guest of Dave Behr and the IDEC (Indiana Economic Development Corporation) on Sunday for the Colts/Ravens game.  I was there representing MCEDC (Marshall County Economic Development Corp.) along with Jerry Chavez.  Several business leaders were also in attendance as well as Mayor Senter from Plymouth.  I’ve decided that watching the game from a suite is the way to go!  Ha!

The game was a good one and the networking opportunity was good as well.  It’s good to speak to people outside their normal work environment sometimes.  Those connections can be important.

Speaking of those connections, all of us from Marshall County also got to meet and speak briefly with Governor Pence.  I don’t expect that he knows my name, but I think he’s seen me enough now to recognize my face and know some of my issues.

Colts with Governor 10-5-14This was my first NFL game and that in itself was quite an experience.  Experiencing the crowd and seeing the stadium was all new.  Of course I can’t walk through a parking lot without looking at the drainage patterns or walk through a building without assessing the details.  Looking at the stadium structure with the retractable roof and such was fascinating.

All and all it was a good time and I think the discussions were worthwhile.  I will definitely go again if invited.

ECC Anniversary with ABC

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ABC - Associated Builders & Contractors of IndianaAt a recent ABC meeting our council manager, Felisha Minnich, had a list of all the members present with the dates they joined ABC.  It turns out Easterday Construction Co., Inc. joined Associated Builders and Contractors of Indiana (now Indiana/Kentucky) on this day in 1983.  Thirty one years of anything isn’t insignificant.  That’s seven years longer than I’ve been back with ECC!

Since joining, we’ve had various employees involved with the ABC, serving on committees, attending apprenticeship, etc.  I’ve served on the Michiana Council Steering Committee, served 5 terms on the State Board, served on the committee reviewing the by-laws and served on the Political Action Committee.  There is something to be said for “getting out what you put in”.  I am in general agreement with the ABC philosophy and I’ve learned a lot from interactions with other contractors I respect.

Felisha Minnich

While Easterday Construction Co., Inc. holds memberships in various other organizations, ABC is probably the one that has the closest connection to the ECC philosophy.  There is no group that I agree with 100% and I am often one of the lonely “Nay” votes on the board, but I would still recommend ABC membership to my peers.  If any of those peers are reading this, I suggest they contact Felisha.  Felisha has done a wonderful job and holds our Council together.  ABC scored big when they added her to our “family” and I don’t hesitate to recommend a conversation with her.

TSA Rebuttal

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TSA RebuttalI ran across this ad a few months ago on the back of a magazine.  I thought it was pretty amusing, but after flying this past weekend it’s not as funny as it was.

I can’t think of a job that would be much less fun than TSA agent.  Regardless of this, it is amazing to see the difference in attitudes of the people working for the TSA and how their demeanor transfers to the traveling public.  Agent #1 is all business and that doesn’t bother me.  I’m there for a purpose, they’re there for a purpose… between the two of us we’ll just go through the necessary motions and go on with our lives.  Then there is the agent #2 –  friendly illicites friendly.  Smiles garner smiles.  When she mentions that she knows someone from Culver/Plymouth/South Bend, she creates a connection and relieves some of the stress from the situation.  That’s so much different from agent #3 that treated those of us in line as cattle.  When he tells us there are three lines and to separate into them, he audibly sighs in disgust and looks at us with disdain.  How can we be so stupid?  He’s told us this 30 times already today…  But he hasn’t.  He’s said it thirty times, but to thirty different groups of people.  But that is the problem.  We’re not people to him.  We’re the mass of bodies that continues to clog his space and acknowledging that we’re a new group ruins the easy construct he relates to his wife every night about “the idiots that can’t take direction” that he has to deal with daily.  He’s fine with us being faceless masses and in return, he being a faceless uniform that none of us could pick out of a line-up if paid to.

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