There’s no doubt about it — letting yourself be consumed 24/7 by news isn’t good for your mental and emotional health.
But, on the other hand, ignorance isn’t always bliss (call us biased).
That’s especially true if you’ve been entrusted to be a community leader through election, appointment or being hired to help lead one of our several governmental organizations that helps to ensure the health, safety and well-being of our area and its inhabitants.
But, unfortunately, we continue to notice fairly regularly that some of our community’s leaders are lacking when it comes to having an understanding about what’s going on in our community and, in some instances, their own organization.
That’s not acceptable.
We’ve recently (and fairly often) seen elected officials show up to meetings seeming to not having read the appropriate materials or, sometimes, it seems, even the agenda.
We’ve seen elected and appointed officials begin a discussion with good intentions and facts, only for it to devolve into conjecture, insults and ignorance over things like how another public entity is paying for a project.
We’ve seen officials badmouth others without firm evidence or examples of what they’re accusing them of.
Those actions don’t allow us to have much faith or confidence that these officials are seeking to do what’s best.
We absolutely don’t think it’s too much to ask for our officials to seek to be informed and have a basic understanding of what is happening in the community (and their own organization), how it will or is affecting their organization, how it could affect the community, etc.
We don’t think it’s too much to ask for officials to ask questions when they’re unsure of facts instead of submitting conjecture and opinion as if they were fact.
We don’t think it’s too much to ask to expect our governmental entities to reach out to one another to help increase understanding.
If each organization focuses only on its own improvements, development and growth without concern for others, we increase the likelihood of unintended consequences that will create more problems that will then need to be solved. That’s not how we can ensure we’re changing, growing, developing and preserving aspects of our community appropriately.
It can, however, help ensure that relationships between entities fall apart and can make mistakes more likely.
If the Rio Blanco Fire and other natural disasters have shown us anything, it’s that we’re better together, and it’s better when we’re armed with facts about what we’re facing, the risks and how it’s affecting those we share this area with.
We thank those officials who spend time diligently preparing for meetings and staying apprised of what’s going on in our community.
We thank those who have spoken up in meetings, stating they don’t feel they have the information needed to make a sound decision and suggesting decisions wait until after more facts or viewpoints are available.
We thank those who understand they can lead better and more efficiently armed with information and a desire to do the best for their community.
As Thomas Jefferson said, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”
Randi Pierce
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