Farewell and Thank you to City Manager Mr. Lane Bailey
Salisbury is going to be dealt a tough blow with city manager Mr. Lane Bailey retiring. Mr. Bailey has been a very competent manager who has seen our city through what may be the toughest years our city has seen in since the turn of the millennium - i.e. the "pandemic" years. Thanks to his competency and that of the various city departments, Salisbury has not only survived, but has also moved ahead without skipping a beat.
Filling in Mr. Bailey's shoes is going to be a tall order for the new city manager - but as residents, we must accept that come January of 2022, Mr. Bailey will no longer be managing the affairs of our city.
The Quest for a new City Manager - what to look for in a prospect - the Big Picture
The big question is what do we want in our new manager? As residents of Salisbury we must take the time to ask some very fundamental questions of ourselves and our prospective city manager :
what direction do we want our city to go in
what kind of economic base do we want to leave our kids with in Salisbury - service based or industry based
how do we want to give Salisbury a competitive edge in the world of tomorrow
what's the best pathway to get to our goals as a city
what style of management do we expect from our new city manager
what is the prospect's record thus far in key areas:
anticipatory management
crisis management
what is her value system in as far as
policing and citizen safety
COVID awareness
the environment, recycling, renewable energy usage
education
making Salisbury "small business" and "entrepreneur friendly"
I have personally always thought of a city manager as not only a manager, but also a leader. In other words, the city manager is very akin to being the Chief Executive Officer of the city.
The city's new CEO must not only shape expectations but also deliver on those expectations. Not only must she deliver on her own vision but she must facilitate strategies to deliver on the vision laid out by the city council (which in turn must shape it's vision based on the will of the city's residents - after all, the people know what's best for themselves.)
City council members should charge themselves with the responsibility of gathering ideas from the residents of where their thoughts are as to the future of the city. Then, they take those disparate ideas of residents and based on their knowledge of the circumstances and situational positioning and budget of the city, coalesce them into an achievable vision - a roadmap for the future of the city. City council must then task the City Manager with transforming the vision of the people into a strategic plan and then marshalling the city management team into developing an actionable framework using the resources at hand (this last point is of paramount importance to stay within budget.)
The City Manager therefore must formulate and implement tactical solutions using the aforementioned strategy developed towards achieving the vision set forth by the people through their representatives in city council.
The City Manager and the city management team must work out the plan of action within the constraints of the approved budget, available resources, timeframe allocated and logistics. Anyone can lay out a plan. What separates the great CEO's from the mediocre ones is the method of implementation employed towards the achievement of targets and goals within budget, in the specified timeframe allocated, and most importantly with minimal disruptions (be they internal, external, governmental, supply chain, etc.) and without the need for micromanagement.
Concluding Remarks
City Management teams are perfectly capable of sustaining operations and habits, be they good or bad. Real progress is only likely to happen if the City's new CEO possesses the internal fortitude to initiate progress and sustain it.