View from the Cordillera

A Commentary on Achieving Excellence in Local Government
Read by Municipal Leaders on 4 Continents
Published by the Cordillera Institute (Vol. 4, Issue 19)

Why Your Municipal Council Makes Dumb Decisions ... and What You Can Do About It (part 1)

Guest Author
Al Arnold
former Mayor
Rice Lake, Wisconsin
[For more information on our guest author, see the About the Author section below.]

[To order the full text of this commentary or to become a subscriber, see the notes below.]

Summary of This Commentary
Some time ago, I was researching a commentary on the Internet and came across the blog of the former Mayor of Rice Lake, Wisconsin.  Since that 1st encounter, he has been very generous with his time and advice on matters of local government in Wisconsin, on political strategy, and on creating a web site.  Recently, he published an e-book on his 30-plus years of experience attending municipal meetings.  In this 2-part series, he shares some of that experience.  Part 1 focusses on the 3 major reasons why municipal councils make questionable decisions.  Part 2 offers 4 steps which can be used to improve the quality of decision-making.  His practical advice and his dry sense of humor make this an informative and entertaining read.

About the Author
For over 30 years, Al Arnold has been involved in local politics.  Starting as a sarcastic political cartoonist, his political journey has included four elections as Mayor, two elections as a County Board Supervisor, and a decade as a local government lobbyist for the Realtors^® Association.

Over the many years of sitting in local government meetings from every vantage point in the room, Al learned the game of local politics and wrote the book Moving Mountains and Molehills: Local Politics 101 to teach citizens how to play the game of local politics and win.

Presently he also serves as the Local Government Pontificator at the mythical Academy of Local Politics.

As always, we welcome your comments.

David Barber
Director
Cordillera Institute
(416) 293-9300
CordInst@istar.ca
http://pages.istar.ca/~cordinst/

---

To Order This Issue
You may order the full text of this issue of View from the Cordillera by replying to this e-mail.  Just put the word 'Order' in the subject line.  Or, send us an e-mail with your name, title, organization, and e-mail address.   Please include the volume and issue number or the title of this issue.   Each copy is only $5.

To Order Any Other Issue
You may order any other issue of View from the Cordillera by replying to this e-mail.  Just put the word 'Order' in the subject line.  Or, send us an e-mail with your name, title, organization, and e-mail address.  Please include the volume and issue number or the title of the issue(s) you want.  Each copy is $5.  If you are ordering multiple issues, enquire about our discounts.  To access the on-line catalog of publications available from our archives, just click on the VFC Catalog button below.

To Become a Subscriber
You may become a subscriber to View from the Cordillera by replying to this e-mail.  Just put the word 'Subscribe' in the subject line.  Or, send us an e-mail with your name, title, organization, and e-mail address.  We will e-mail you a confirmation of your subscription and an invoice for your records.  A 1-year subscription (50 issues) is just $50 per person.  That's only $1 per issue.  If your elected officials or management team would like to subscribe as a group, enquire about our special group subscription rates.

To Inform Your Colleagues and Associates
If you would like to share View from the Cordillera with your colleagues and associates, we will be pleased to send them a complimentary copy, together with a note acknowledging your referral.  Just reply to this e-mail with the word 'Refer' in the subject line.  Or, you may send us an e-mail with your name, title, organization, and e-mail address.  Please include the names, titles, organizations, and e-mail addresses of those to receive the package and we will do the rest.  Or, you may simply forward this summary to them.

About This Publication
Each week, View from the Cordillera covers some aspect of excellence in local government.  It may examine one of the success elements; it may present a case study; it may introduce a resource (an individual, a group, a publication, etc.) which is advancing excellence; it may advocate a new direction for local government; or it may identify a wrong turn in public policy and offer an appropriate remedy.  This electronic publication is being sent to those who govern, manage, support, and sustain our municipalities.  For more information, just click on the About VFC button below.

About the Cordillera Institute
The Cordillera Institute is an independent research and public policy organization dedicated to excellence in local government.  Since our founding in 1994, we have studied many high-performance organizations to learn what makes them successful.  From this research, we have distilled a set of principles, paradigms, policies, programs, and practices which are the key elements of their success.  Our mission is to be a catalyst -- to empower municipalities, public utilities, school boards, and other local public agencies to achieve excellence by adopting and applying these success elements.  For more information, just click on the About CI button below.

If You No Longer Wish to Receive These Summaries
You may be removed from the distribution list for these summaries by replying to this e-mail.  Just put the word 'Remove' in the subject line.