At the end of Tuesday’s City Council meeting, City Manager Scott Sellers said he recognized the council’s desire to conduct a retreat "to discuss goals, priorities for the future — for the year 2017 and beyond." He then asked the council whether it still wanted to stage such an event and, if so, where and when.
Boy, was that a mistake.
After Mayor Todd Webster said he wasn’t that much of a retreat fan, council member Shane Arabie countered that he thought it was a "good idea."
"I think it’s good to get on the same page," Arabie said. "I think this would be a good clarification to let staff know the direction in which we expect them to head."
Then came that awful inevitable, this time from council member Daphne Tenorio.
"I’d like to see us work together on vision," she said. "One of the things I hear a lot is the city’s lack of vision. I’d like us to do a better job of advertising that vision and come together to make sure we’re all the same page."
Anyone versed in such notions as successful outcomes can spot the problems here many miles away. This is nothing more than "Let’s rent a barn and put on a show" without first thinking about what kind of show you want to put on and, even more importantly, why do you want to put on a show in the first place.
A retreat should not be treated as a destination. It can, however, be one of the vehicles employed to arrive at a destination. In other words, don’t plan to have a retreat. Strategically conceptualize actual goals, priorities, programs, outcomes — whatever — then determine if a retreat would be a useful way to, at a minimum, to recognize and solidify them. I don’t know of anyone who says "I want to buy an airplane ticket," but I know a lot of people who say "I need to get to such and such a place" and then determine purchasing an airplane ticket is the best option to get them there.
You know your retreat idea is in trouble when people begin discussing such nebulous ideas as "vision." What does anyone really mean when they say that? If you want clarity of vision, visit an optometrist. By definition, cities can’t have vision. And while many corporations, and even some governmental entities, love to have them, there is nothing less useful than "a vision statement." They are superficial. They are meaningless. And, like palm trees, they readily bend with the prevailing winds of current public opinion. I remember back in the days when most vision statements revolved around the idea of "quality," that "Quality was Job 1." Then along came another slick huckster and said "No, vision statements should not be about quality, that should emphasize customer service." And then it was "Customer service is not what should be emphasized, it’s customer satisfaction." And round and round it goes. Vision statements are, on the one hand limiting, but even more importantly, especially for a city like Kyle, they can be divisive. Does anyone really think the city could fashion a vision statement that could be supported by all the city’s residents? Does anyone really think the city could fashion a vision statement that could be endorsed by both political leaders such as Mayor Webster and civic activists such as Lila Knight? It’s never going to happen so why waste time at a retreat to try and make it happen.
What is needed is making sure the city has "people of vision" in leadership roles and, for my money, the city took an important step in that direction when it hired Sellers. I have had two extended (more than an hour) one-on-one, on-the-record conversations with our current city manager, many more shorter talks with him at various functions and even a handful of late-at-night, off-the-record talks in darkened, deserted parking lots and during all of these he has illustrated to me his passion for the future success of Kyle. His goal of making Kyle a destination city is not simply part of a strategic plan, it is a desire rooted deep within his soul. He desperately wants to make this happen. But he can’t do it alone. He needs help. And to date I have seen absolutely no one willing to step forward to partner with him on this endeavor and right now I am pointing a finger directly at the members of the City Council. This is where the help needs to come from. This is where the support for this vision must emanate. Don’t be saying the city needs to create a vision, i.e., a worthless vision statement; instead, agree to work in partnership alongside someone with that vision, to help shape that vision and ultimately to achieve that vision.
Which brings me back to the why and if the council should have a retreat. I would like to see the council plan a two-day retreat for the sole purpose of listening to and considering various specific options for making Kyle a destination city. Where do these options come from? I’ll let Sellers and his staff decide that. But it seems he has developed an excellent relationship with Texas State University and perhaps he could convince a professor or two or three in their public affairs disciplines to make that idea a class assignment or project: Come up with a concept for making Kyle a destination city and the city staff, together with the educators, could decide from all these concepts at least five that have legitimate chance of a successful outcome. Then ask the five students who developed these concepts to create a full-fledged presentation that includes mockups, architectural renderings — any sort of persuadable visual aide — and then award those students the opportunity to, on Day 1 of the retreat, make those presentations themselves to the council, the city staff and anyone else at the retreat. That evening, a casual social event could be staged that would allow these students along with their professors to enjoy a buffet dinner followed by social interaction with city leaders, both elected and staff. Day 2 of the retreat would be reserved for the council to, first of all, decide once and for all if it wanted to firmly advance the concept of making Kyle a destination city and, if so, discuss the various presentations that were made the day before or any variations or derivatives of those presentations.
A successful retreat would be one at which, at the end of Day 2, the council had agreed on a firm concept to follow to achieve Sellers’s vision and had directed staff to begin the journey to arrive at that vision.
And with that, the bifocals could come off.
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