Vision and the mayoral platform

Where there is no vision, the people perish, at least that is one translation of Proverbs 29:18. Although I have no ecclesiastical or apostolic authority to change the Bible, I believe restating this proverb as a positive statement is just as true. Where there is vision the people prosper.

Great things have happened throughout history because of a vision: the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the Untied States; man’s first step on the moon; and the Internet’s distribution of knowledge – knowledge that once was expensive to obtain.

I believe Fort Smith and its prosperity is at risk. Measures generally associated with an area’s prosperity are beginning to trend negatively. The question is, “Why?”

One possible problem in Fort Smith is that we lack vision. I’m not saying that our individual businesses and organizations are themselves void of vision. I am saying as a whole, as a community, Fort Smith does not have a shared vision where everybody is working together to improve our circumstances. Fort Smith just is. We lack motion.

If history tells us that vision can bring people great benefit, then where does vision come from and how do we get one. That answer is surprisingly simple to answer. Vision is created by people who believe in a better and improved future, believe it is possible to make the vision a reality, then share this future with others who become believers themselves, and as a group people perform the tasks necessary to make the vision more than a dream. People with vision are called leaders.

So if Fort Smith suffers from a lack of vision, we can infer that there is a leadership problem. The most visible arena to criticize for a lack of leadership is our elected city officials; our directors and our mayor. I believe we have issues in leadership with our elected officials, but consider the environment we require them to operate.

As a citizenry, we set them up for failure. We expect them to act as highly trained professionals when they are in reality volunteers. Some might argue they get paid for their efforts, but the directors’ pay of $1,000 per year is hardly compensation for what we expect them to do. The mayor is paid $10,000 per year, but that rate of pay isn’t going to attract much competition among candidates for mayor each election cycle. So we as citizens expect a lot from our “volunteer” elected officials. I always question myself on what is reasonable to expect.

Look at the office of mayor. By design the position is irrelevant, unimportant. We don’t call our mayors irrelevant. It sounds too disrespectful so we choose to call them ceremonial.  The truth is that if we abolished our office of mayor, nobody would notice. Why? Our water would keep coming to our houses to flush our toilets, our trash would continue to be picked up and disposed of, and our streets would continue to be repaired.

Fort Smith needs a compelling vision for its future. For 50 years we have told our mayors they are ceremonial, a prop. But what the office of mayor has that many visionary people lack is a platform. By platform I mean a vehicle or a path to be heard and to communicate or facilitate a vision that motivates us as a community to do what is necessary to change the direction of Fort Smith from one of slight decay (our paint is peeling) to one of revitalization.

Look at our numbers. Our area population is down, our total work force is down in spite of the decrease in unemployment rates, the number of new residential units added in town are down, and enrollment at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith is down.

It would benefit Fort Smith to find a mayor who rejects the idea that the only purpose is ceremonial, then energetically use the mayoral platform to facilitate the creation and development of a shared vision that benefits us all, tirelessly communicate to the people its benefits, and then leads Fort Smith to a future of growth and prosperity. It would benefit Fort Smith even more to change the nature the mayor’s office to a well paid full time position with authority.

Mayor Sandy Sanders, my comments are not meant to offend you. For $10,000 a year there is no incentive for you to do much of anything. However, considering the story our statistics are telling us, using your platform to help lead Fort Smith to find a new vision would bring relevance to your position. Just don’t confuse Fort Smith’s comprehensive plan as our city’s vision. When found, our vision will be so much bigger than local government. If you can’t see the difference between the comprehensive plan and a new vision, that’s OK. That’s the great thing about holding a ceremonial office. Nobody really cares what you do.

Although I believe leadership in local government is important, there is much more to Fort Smith than our government. Fort Smith consists of hundreds of organizations with their own purposes and visions. If Fort Smith as a whole doesn’t take notice of our negative trends, then each organization will find their own vision and purpose will be hindered.

I know a lot of people in Fort Smith. I know many men and women capable of visionary leadership. The test for Fort Smith’s future is will the capable step up and lead. More to come.