(The author, David Smith, is Mt. Gilead’s new manager. He writes a weekly column for the Speckled Paw Times.)
Mt. Gilead has a great opportunity to creatively innovate new ways of public engagement and service delivery if it chooses to do so. It is becoming increasingly evident that the standard response to many of the challenges found in Mt. Gilead is in need of an infusion of creativity, innovation and design toward new ideas and solutions. A definition of innovation is “a new or improved product or process that differs significantly from the unit’s previous products or processes.” I see these as exciting prospects but unfortunately little understood or encouraged by traditionalists who are satisfied with leaving “good enough” or “well enough” alone. Mt. Gilead must provide real solutions to the physical and social policy delivery problems that citizens face.
Mt. Gilead’s current social, economic and infrastructure deficiencies are in need of new strategies for response and delivery. The mayor, board and town staff find a very different context and reality today than in the past. There is a need to redefine the role of excellence in town service delivery, especially in an age of increased polarized politics and less than responsive siloed bureaucracies. Mt. Gilead’s struggle of dealing with current problems, and insisting even more strongly on only the tried-and-true structure and processes of the past, will only exacerbate the current and future problems faced by the town. Noted scholar Don Kettl writes, “The old public-management model has become less useful. … It increasingly failed to match the emerging realities of governance.” Mt. Gilead’s leadership, both elected and non-elected, must acknowledge that citizens’ needs are changing and the processes for addressing solutions for today’s issues and opportunities are much different from those ascribed to in the past. Mt. Gilead must learn and espouse creativity, innovation and design in addressing the needs of the 21st century, and most importantly be bold and unafraid in responding to those needs.