Head Down, Working for a Living

I've learned that the Fire Department does a number of other things besides fight fires, which actually takes up less than 20% of its time. I've learned what happens to the dead animals that you see by the side of the road. I've learned aobut the impact that kids coming back to school has on local traffic patterns. I've learned that Sales Tax is the predominate form of revenue in this little city, and how that makes it somewhat unique. I"ve learned that water planning cycles look far into the future. I've learned that regional collaboration, while sound policy on paper, is a challenge because competition among regional entitties for economic development is real and fierce. I've learned that the county and city government are interwoven to a surprising degree.

I'll present my findings and preliminary conclusions to the City Manager at the end of this week, then meet with City Council members and the Mayor later this month.

This process of digging into the details is very healthy for a city contemplating a move to a wireless network. It has the added benefit of raising the awareness of individual city government workers and beginning to generate a buzz about positive change. There is no substitute for the heavy lifting that will provide the necessary details to make a strong business case. There are no short-cuts on the way to modernizing city government and bringing new benefits to citizens.

It takes a long time to turn a ship, and there will be detractors and others who fear change along the way. But surprisingly, there is a groundswell of potential innovation lurking in the small town governments of America and an eagerness to solve nagging problems that confound the efforts of employees to do a good job. This is an exciting time to be involved with wireless.