Questions About Speaking Up - There have been a few posts recently about employees who might want to speak up about certain issues but who say they are are afraid to. One person posted that we have a "need to have a place to put your opinions without fear of retribution." While I think this blog provides such a place, I want to make a few other comments on the subject.
I've been in local government a little more than 20 years, and for more than half of that time have supervised at least 200 people, and as many as 1600. One of the things I've heard time and again is that people are "afraid" to speak out or speak up for fear of some type of retaliation. I don't want to minimize how difficult it is sometimes for a subordinate employee to raise issues that have to do with a supervisor, or say that no supervisor has ever engaged in retaliatory conduct.
What I will say is that in all honesty I have never seen that happen, and to emphasize that such conduct would not, and will not be tolerated in this organization. I have stressed over and over in my career that "nothing bad will happen to anyone who speaks up for himself." It really is as simple as that. If there are people who believe this type of thing happens and I am unaware of it, I encourage you to call my office - I take every phone call, anonymous or not. I will gladly investigate.
But there is another side to that coin. As public employees, if we are aware of problems, wrongdoing, or mistreatment of some sort and do nothing then we are not living up to the responsibility we have to the taxpayers we work for. We're not here only to do what's easy, we're here to do what's right, and nobody under this administration will be punished for doing what's right. That is part of what accountability is about, and there's been a lot of conversation about accountability around here lately.
Does this mean anyone can throw around any allegation they wish with impunity, or that everyone gets their way? Certainly not, we are all responsible for the things we do or say, and often different people see different things as fair or right. But if there are issues out there that need to be addressed, speak up! This will be a better organization, and Sarasota will be a better city for it.
I've been in local government a little more than 20 years, and for more than half of that time have supervised at least 200 people, and as many as 1600. One of the things I've heard time and again is that people are "afraid" to speak out or speak up for fear of some type of retaliation. I don't want to minimize how difficult it is sometimes for a subordinate employee to raise issues that have to do with a supervisor, or say that no supervisor has ever engaged in retaliatory conduct.
What I will say is that in all honesty I have never seen that happen, and to emphasize that such conduct would not, and will not be tolerated in this organization. I have stressed over and over in my career that "nothing bad will happen to anyone who speaks up for himself." It really is as simple as that. If there are people who believe this type of thing happens and I am unaware of it, I encourage you to call my office - I take every phone call, anonymous or not. I will gladly investigate.
But there is another side to that coin. As public employees, if we are aware of problems, wrongdoing, or mistreatment of some sort and do nothing then we are not living up to the responsibility we have to the taxpayers we work for. We're not here only to do what's easy, we're here to do what's right, and nobody under this administration will be punished for doing what's right. That is part of what accountability is about, and there's been a lot of conversation about accountability around here lately.
Does this mean anyone can throw around any allegation they wish with impunity, or that everyone gets their way? Certainly not, we are all responsible for the things we do or say, and often different people see different things as fair or right. But if there are issues out there that need to be addressed, speak up! This will be a better organization, and Sarasota will be a better city for it.
posted by Michael McNees at 12:38 PM
23 Comments:
Finally!!! Thanks for the opportunity to ask the question:what does the DEPUTY CAC - ADMIN. OPERATIONS DO? I used to work in the clerks office 3 years ago and I could never figure out what this person did. Also, why is there such a turn-around in this office?
This is a question I will be happy to pass on to City Auditor and Clerk Billy Robinson, where I promise you everyone in the place has plenty of work to do.
I do not have some wrongdoing to report but I totally agree that should I be involved with or have someone treat me in a way that I feel is unprofessional, I should be able to speak up to my superior first and then their superior should they not respond to my complaint in person. You write about a good point and all of us at city hall need to take responsibility and stand up for what we feel is right.
Responsibility means also having to identify yourself if there is an important issue the city or staff needs to address. In all the years I have not seen any abuse of our system and I think with large organizations you always have some people that get upset over one thing or another. This does not mean things are not working, it is just the way people are sometimes. People really like blaming others for things that do not go right in their careers instead of looking at the way they choose to do thing.
I hope people take this post to heart and start taking personal responsibility.
I have been meaning to write great job to the new guy in the planning department that gave the presentation on Wayfinding. I know everyone does a great job and just wanted to say his presentation was great and informative. Sorry I did not write down his name.
The "new guy"'s name is Gary Kecskes, and his title is Senior Urban Planner. I agree about his presentation, and can't wait for the commission and the public to see it too. Gary is going to be great for us to have on board, talent is always welcome! Now that you know who he is, you can pass your compliment on to him directly.
A friend told me about your blog. Today around noon I called the Police Department and was routed to their front desk. A female could not answer my question. She said that I would need to talk to a police officer because she wasn't one and she couldn't help me. Her only solution was that I call back after 6:30 p.m. She did not know who would be there other then it would be a real officer. I have a couple of concerns, aren't there any police officers in the building that could have taken my call? Why are there people stationed at the front desk who can't provide you any help? This isn't this first time this has happened to me. I've called and got your front desk before and was told that I would have to call back when an officer was available. This is no way to run a Police Department.
Hypocrisy in high places can be a dangerous thing. Some city commissioners have applied the highest standards and principles to you and other city employees. Some commissioners and neighborhood activists have called for the firing of you and other city employees for what they see as high crimes and misdemeanors or at least poor judgment. If they want to appear even handed, they need to apply that same standard to Commissioner Palmer after her outrageous abuse of power. If I called the Chief of Police to report a single bug on my lanai and told him that I was frightened, I am sure that an officer from the SWAT unit would not appear at my door. Perhaps the Chief thought that was code for I am being held hostage or perhaps he knows that he must respond to the whims of a commissioner that holds others to high standards that she does not apply to herself. It is time that sunshine violations and free event tickets be investigated. Hypocrisy should have a price.
The city commission does not even know what ethics means. You have them all accepting invitations to events and not paying their way, speaking to each other out of the sunshine, making votes to appease voters and not the common good. They attend all the glamour functions but how often do you see them at a neighborhood meetings? I have never had a commissioner attend a meeting in my neighborhood and should they not attend all the time if we are the people they represent? Or do they just represent the big shots that pander to them at city hall. Pander because talk about the threat of being ousted. The commission is the one you cannot speak honestly about what you really feel or they will find way to hurt you. In fact they constantly try to find ways to hurt each other and show each other up by grandstanding. You need to tell them that the employees are not the ones setting bad policy by behavior it is the commission.
Are the commissioners not suppose to set policies for our city? If that is their duty when they took office, why do they not attend all the neighborhood meetings and get out into the general public more. The are always seen at functions, as you say grandstanding, but that is not the place to get good public input. They need to get real with the people and that is not always a pretty packaged job. The job is a lot of work but they should know that, especially Palmer who is the biggest grand stander of all, but Servian is close behind. I wish they would do their jobs instead of being peacocks and making themselves more important than the job they are suppose to be doing. I am say this because somehow they have to realize how destructive they are to the city and employees.
Maybe the Commissioners need a Blog site- how come Mr. McNees has not posted a response or new Blog since the middle of last month?
That would be a great idea for each commissioner to have a blog because they are the ones that you cannot give honest input without being treated poorly afterwards, so you could voice your disapproval without that over your head. Especially the employees have to pander to them, what else can we do? So, I understand the chief had no choice but to act the way he did with Palmer but he should be able to say "call the police department or the fire department" not my personal cell phone number and make me call for you. She should be ashamed of herself but they all have a hard time accepting they ever do anything wrong without turning it into a PR venue.
The City Commissioners certainly don't need my defense, but I will say that they do attend a lot of neighborhood meetings and events. I attend many of the CCNA meetings, for example, and there are always a couple of commissioners there as well.
People always say to me that my job must not be easy, and the same can be said for the job of commissioner; there's no job manual, and there are always plenty of people willing to criticize, especially in hindsight. The vast majority of City and County Commissioners I've known over the years are just trying to do the best job they can in meeting the various demands of the office. One of those demands is to attend all kinds of events, and every commissioner decides for him or herself how to handle those things.
But as I said, they don't need my defense. I will be sure that the blog suggestion is passed on to each of them, some have already expressed interest in having one.
As for my lack of postings recently, that's my fault! But that's easy to fix, thanks for asking.
While you say they do not need your defence, they do not attend alot of neighborhood meetings. The CCNA while a good group, it is a group of the same people speaking their individual voices mostly and not a fair representation of many. They quickly attend all the "important" functions but not the smaller neighborhoods with the folks that cannot afford to attend those other important functions. In fact we have seen you at our meetings but not a commissioner. They work hard at being political.
I hope you don't mind my barging in on the City Manager's blog but I felt it was important to respond to some of the comments that have been made relative to the Commissioners.
I can assure you that I accept very few invitations that come my way other than ones that I believe will further serve the City by my presence. I attend every neighborhood association meeting that I am invited to and the Coalition of City Neighborhood Meetings when it doesn't conflict with my other duties on a Saturday morning. Many neighborhood associations don't want the commissioners there unless they are invited and most times we don't know when they are meeting. I would suggest you view my calendar at anytime and see how much time I spend with my constituents listening to their needs. I spend the bulk of my day with constituents either on the phone or here at City Hall.
I pay my own way to many events since I don't feel the taxpayers should pay for some of them. I always pay for my husband to attend when he is able to join me.
Also, you might be interested to know that I serve on 3 non-profit boards that are of particular interest to me and I believe help the community. I am the Chair of First Step of Sarasota, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, I am on the Board of Healthy Start, a coalition of non-profits to insure good prenatal care, and I am on the Board of First Tee of Manatee/ Sarasota which is a program that builds life skills through golf for at risk youth. All of these Boards I serve on because I belive in them and yes I attend many of there events..at my expense.
I do my best not to "grandstand" at anytime but to put on a professional and positive face of the City.
Thank you for allowing me to post here and for allowing me to serve as a Commissioner. It is only through the work of the city employees that the City has flouished into a world class city. I can assure you that I don't take credit for the success.
Mary Anne Servian
Mrs. Servian: I do not think the neighborhood associations realize they need to invite you to attend their meetings, especially if they are in your district. It would appear since there is an amazing neighborhood department run by the city you could reach out through that department and get some reality checks on the different neighborhoods before making assumptions you need to be "formally invited." You are in office to listen and as the last post stated, it would be great to listen to more than those that make appointments.
Billy Robinson, city auditor and clerk, has always expected a high level of productivity, which consistently shows in the work produced by the clerk. Employees who are willing to 110% don't have a problem in the clerk's office. Much of the turnover can be attributed to the nature of the work that is required in attending and transcribing commission meetings within extremely tight deadlines that is wearing not only physically but mentally.
Has the clerks office ever considered hiring court reporters because they are trained in this fast track area of transcribing. They take dictation and transcribe all day long so instead of hiring people that may get overwhelmed with this task why not hire people that are trained to do it and enjoy it. People in the legal field also deal with large volumes of paperwork so organization is important and hardly daunting if managed properly.
Once again I will barge into the City Manager's blog to inform anonymous 11/7/05 8:39 am that many association DO NOT want to have commissioners there unless invited. These meeting are sometimes dealing with issues that for one reason or another they want to discuss in private. My first year in office I went to every meeting I knew about and was asked a few times, politely, that it would be better to wait for an invite. I don't make assumptions.
If you have a particular meeting you think I should be attending please let me know. I would really be curious to understand why you think I only listen to those that make appointments. Who's making assumptions? I go to the Farmer's Market weekly, walk up and down Main Street and talk to merchants and shoppers, I visit the other commercial areas in my district, go to a gazillion meetings and hear what folks are saying...help me out here and let me know how you think I can do a better job...I am always striving to serve better..afterall that's why what I do is called public service.
Mayor Servian: You could start your own blog so we could post questions to you. I think it would be a good idea for all the commissioners to have some format for people to ask questions and get a response. Create a way to say what is on your mind. It is worth a try.
A blog for the commissioners would be a really good idea. I think they would not take the risk like the City Manager has taken. You never know what is going to show up and that is risky for a commissioner.
COMMISSIONERS NEED A BLOG TOO!
Commissioners Need a Blog?
Folks, we are a relatively insular group with access to the Internet and an interest in local politics, no?
Now, if it could be demonstrated that there is a significant correlation between blog participants and that small portion of the electorate regularly found leaving a polling place - you might get teh commissioners interested in spending hours at a keyboard "blogging."
Commissioners are likely interested in voters and contributors and acknowledge that its hard to garner sufficient quantities of the first absent sufficient quantities of the latter.
After reading th bit about commissioner failing to attend Neighborhood Meetings sans invitation, it would appear that some portion of those contributing to this blog may be less than adequately informed.
Having said that, I might agree with the premise that the Commissioners are less interested in constituent opinion after some months on the job than they were when first running for office.
And we may see more of our commissioners at those events held by and for “those big shots” because “those big shots” extend more invitations to more inviting venues and, frankly, have so much more to offer.
Everything that you want is right in front of you. The question is
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