government

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.

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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Culver Wellhead Protection Map

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Map of Town of Culver wellhead drainage aquifer area
Map of Town of Culver wellhead aquifer area

I received the handy-dandy map to the right in the mail from the Town of Culver the other day along with a letter from Dave Schoeff, Culver Town Manager, talking about various procedures for protecting the well water for Culver’s municipal wells.  All of it was a good reminder as ground water contamination isn’t something that people think about on a day to day basis.  I doubt many people think about where the municipal tap water comes from beyond the faucet to which it is attached.  I doubt many people really looked at the map either.  Aside from the weird abbreviation for street “Str.” and the random dashed line area floating above the Lutheran Church property, two other things struck me.  First being that the aerial photography for the base map is old.  Construction began on Culver Garden Court in 2011 and it is not shown in the photograph.  The second and more interesting thing pertinent to recent discussions is that the 10 year protection line extends very close to the current Culver Zoning Boundary.

Hopefully this will be added to the list of reasons why Culver should be allowed to extend their Territorial Authority per the Comprehensive Plan.  Any decisions about development in these zones should be considered against the backdrop of wellhead protection along with all the other factors.  If that is the 10 year line, then the 15 year line is farther out yet, not to mention some of the locations being considered for another well might have aquifer areas even farther out.  Add this to your file Dave!

Constitution Day 2014

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I’ve yet to hear mention on the news today that today is Constitution Day, otherwise known as Citizenship Day.  Hopefully it is still discussed in our schools.

Our Constitution remains one of the most succinct documents of its type and despite being written centuries ago, it continues to hold the guiding principles that have made the United States great.  That’s why it is disheartening when our leaders, those sworn to uphold it, disparage it.  The most notable case of this that jumps to mind is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg‘s comment during the reorganization of Egypt that, “I would not look to the US constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012.” 

Take a moment today to remember the 39 brave men who signed that document in 1787.  Their courage and commitment should be celebrated.

If you are interested in additional links and comments I’ve made on Constitution Day, use the search bar to the right.