The Davidson Town Board has announced a special meeting Tuesday night at the home of Commissioner Connie Wessner in the McConnell neighborhood. The town says it’s part of the board’s ongoing “teambuilding.”
The meeting is Tuesday,Oct. 2, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., at 219 Ashby Drive.
Town spokeswoman Cristina Shaul said the meeting is a “carryover” from the board’s recent team building retreat in Asheville. “They want to continue working on team-building,” she said.
No other items are on the agenda.
I watch all three of our North Mecklenburg Town Councils and none are more collegial than Davidson’s. Huntersville and Cornelius have vigorous debate and routine disagreement. No one on those boards is afraid to challenge the status quo, ask a difficult question, or argue a different perspective. Sometimes it isn’t pretty but it is usually respectful. This approach to individual leadership has served those towns well.
Cornelius and Huntersville had serious doubts and debate about the 2006 cable decision and more recently about the commuter rail finance plan. The checks and balances of individual thought on their councils resulted in better decisions for their towns.
In Davidson, our council is still a groomed group of good people who are vetted for the ballot and then supported at the polls by an “old boy” style network. This approach pretty much guarantees like minded people serving on our small town’s council. These are people who generally see eye to eye and work well together without an expensive consultant interceding.
Successful teams recognize the importance of relationships in achieving goals. I laud the “team building” effort of Mayor Woods and the Board but in government, the checks and balances of individual thought is better for governmental decisions than a team building approach. The “group” think which is fostered by these team/relationship building efforts has failed Davidson on at least one major decision and many lesser ones. This approach also has a direct cost to the taxpayer and reduces openness of government since these “team building events and retreats” appear to be closed to the public.
The Davidson Town Board spent over $2,700 on their “team building” trip to Asheville in September and there may be a cost with this local meeting at Commissioner Wessner’s home. The Board will “retreat” to Statesville later this month to develop a long range Capital Improvement Plan. This “retreat” to Statesville will also inconvenience staff and have an unneeded expense to the taxpayers. I think there is an earned mistrust of government at all levels. These “retreats” and “team/relationship building” sessions add to that mistrust at the town level by restricting the watchful eyes of the press and citizens interested in good government.
The amount of money spent on these retreats could have paid for at least three of Commissioner Wessner’s local non-profit start ups for which she is promoting in the budget. Based on this Board and Mayor’s need to be a close team, I expect the taxpayers will still fund Com. Wessner’s priorities as well as many of the other Commissioner/Mayor’s wants in the budget. After all, it is hard to say “No” to a friend right?