[Newly elected Mayor Bob] Dubey spoke with Community Impact just after the election about becoming mayor, what he hopes to bring to City Council and some of the projects he’s looking forward to addressing over in the future.Source: Community Impact.
My thanks to Community Impact for its continuous news coverage of Richardson. It helps make informed citizens. Community Impact edited the interview with Mayor Dubey for clarity and brevity. Now, let me try to unpack it.
What have you learned from former Mayor Voelker?I want to take advantage of what he provided. Our city is in great shape so I want to compliment him about leaving this Council in good hands. Our leadership styles are not going to be the same, but the ultimate goal is that if we first listen and see what we can do, we can work together.
Source: Community Impact.
This is nitpicky, but I assume Mayor Dubey meant "good shape", not "good hands." The "hands" former Mayor Voelker left the City in are Mayor Dubey's. I don't think that's what Mayor Dubey meant to compliment Voelker for. But complimenting Voelker for leaving the City in "good shape," on the other hand, would make sense. A more important issue I have with this answer is that it's still not something Mayor Dubey "learned" from Voelker. Unpacked, Mayor Dubey couldn't identify anything he learned from Voelker.
What are some priorities you are looking forward to addressing?One of the most critical things that the Council needs to discuss is a radio replacement project because that is expensive. It provides the latest technology and the latest security communication devices that our police and fire staff need. Providing that technology is critical for us to be on the cutting edge going forward. Another project is the Arapaho [Dallas Area Rapid Transit station]. That's going to be the gateway to the Richardson IQ and help us to grow our development. That's the lifeblood of where we're going to go economically as the city continues to try to figure out what we're going to do with less than 3% green space.
Source: Community Impact.
"A radio replacement project?" I don't recall Council Member Dubey having that as a priority last term, or candidate Dubey campaigning on this need. Why, right after the election, is it now "one of the most critical things?" Was candidate Dubey not being fully transparent with voters? Shouldn't Mayor Dubey first consult with the rest of the Council, given that none of them identified this as a priority during the campaign either? The new City Hall whose design is being rushed through is even more "expensive." Mayor Dubey didn't name getting the design of the new $85 million City Hall right as the top priority. Instead, police radios are what's on his mind. That's how I unpack his answer.
What are your goals as mayor?My role as mayor is to make sure that everyone on the Council understands that we're a team. We need to work together, communicate and do things within the guidelines of the laws to create what's best for our community. My job as the mayor is to bring a consensus to the table and allow everyone on our staff to see common ground as we move forward. I think we owe it to our taxpayers to work quickly, efficiently and have our solutions well thought through before it's discussed.
Source: Community Impact.
Let's unpack the last sentence first. "I think we owe it to our taxpayers to work quickly, efficiently and have our solutions well thought through before it's discussed." I assume this is just a mix-up of thoughts while speaking off the top of his head. Of course he's got it backwards. It should be discussions first, solutions after. Taxpayers deserve to have the City's problems thoroughly discussed before solutions are imposed on taxpayers.
More important, Mayor Dubey shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of a City Council. He appears to be relying too much on his years of coaching kid's football. Football is a game. Coaches draw up game plans and call plays on the field. City Council, on the other hand, is a deliberative body. It's made up of equals. Their responsibility is to represent their constituents, not carry out the game plan drawn up by the Mayor. With the City of Richardson Charter, the mayor gets just one vote, the same as everyone else. No one person calls the plays.
The purpose of the City Council is to set policy to be carried out by the City Manager. In a deliberative political body, a difference of opinion is expected. Trying to shift opinion is natural. In a football game, huddles aren't used for the players to debate what the best play to call is. But that's what City Council deliberations should be all about. Hopefully, after thorough discussion, the play the City Council eventually calls, together, will be better than one a coach calls from the sideline between plays. Let's hope the City Councilmembers know that. If they let Mayor Dubey treat them like kids on his high school football team, they will deserve what they get.
5 comments:
Mark, Mayor Dubey meant what he said. Why do you feel the need to try to unpack and change Bob’s words? The best thing Bob could say about the previous mayor was that he left the new council in good hands, Bob’s. Paul’s unprecedented endorsement of a sitting councilman and his unrelenting calls to bully people who supported Bob for mayor to change their endorsements was, in many of their words to our campaign, a reason Bob should be thankful to Paul. Richardson does not like those types of tactics, and the election results proved that.
And to your second point. You do you and keep posting your OPINIONS of how things should be run. The winner of the election gets to execute the way he portrayed that he would - using the skills he has as a coach, mentor, uniter to get things done for the best of Richardson. When you run for office and win a campaign, feel free to govern your way. I’m not sure you have ever been a coach, so maybe you don’t understand the value of understanding people and building relationships to move goals forward. Bob does. And it is a valuable trait. Just ask all those coaches who have been successful in political office or corporate executive leadership. Your constant criticism of coaches makes me think you have some unresolved issues as a student player of whatever sport you may have attempted. Those of us who respect coaches in our past don’t respect these opinion pieces of yours.
Lisa Dunn
Lisa, thanks for your feedback. Your own unpacking of Dubey's words helps us put a complete picture together. And feel free to unpack my own words anytime. It helps me understand how well I'm getting my own points across.
City of Richardson City Council agenda for July 10, 2023: Item 12.A.6: A $16 million purchase in the consent agenda for a radio system. The Council recently spent an hour discussing whether to grant one businessperson a permit to open a massage parlor. And how much public input was sought for approval of a $46 million bond fo City Hall? But this expenditure doesn't even rate a cursory discussion in a City Council meeting? Could it be that a comment by the mayor in an interview with a local newspaper is all the discussion the City Council is going to devote to this $16 million expenditure? We need to rethink our governance practices.
On Facebook, Randy Loftis said, "It's also worth noting that the staff briefed the council on the radio contract in the March 20 work session, so the holdover members aren't completely in the dark. The presentation lasted less than 10 minutes, however, and the staff basically read the PowerPoint. Council members asked few questions. None asked if the city or its consultant, Trott Communications, had investigated alternatives to Motorola, which the staff called the 'udisputed market leader in land mobile radio systems,' with 60%. A Google search on Trott and Motorola finds that the two companies appear together in hundreds of local government radio decisions. (Then-Mayor Voelker noted Motorola's Richardson manufacturing presence, although the hardware in the city's case is coming from Chicago.) It seems unlikely that the other 40% of providers are just scammers with semaphore flags and megaphones. To explore alternatives in good faith is best practice."
I thank Randy Loftis for his research. I should have done that myself. I stand corrected for my implication that the City Council hadn't discussed this.
Post a Comment