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Clarksville Now Editor-in-Chief Chris Smith explains:
Long-running reality TV fan Survivor Get a thrill out of the blind side. At the end of each show, contestants are voted out. When the vote is something totally unexpected – a blind side – it’s fun to see the reaction. And sometimes the person who organized the blind side is rewarded for strategic gameplay.
This makes for great television entertainment, but has not been as successful in local politics.
In the past six months, local leaders have made major decisions that will have deep, long-lasting effects on our community three times with little to no advance discussion with anyone outside of City Hall and the county courts — and each time they have had to change course or reverse course in the face of public backlash.
Is there something in the water?
Three decisions, three reversals
On February 23, Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts announced plans to pay for the construction of a much-needed performing arts center with a new 4% hotel/motel occupancy tax. This came as a shock to tourism officials at the local Economic Development Council and to local hotel and motel owners whose job it is to keep lodging full. The addition of this tax would have given Clarksville the highest hotel/motel tax rate in the country, an undesirable reputation when trying to attract tourists to our city.
Two months later, after discussions with City Hall and the EDC, Pitts backed down and reduced the surcharge to 2.75%.
On May 16, the Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department announced that the Mason Rudolph Golf Course will close at the end of the month and be converted into a public park. The city even put up a new sign reading “Mason Rudolph Legacy Park.” The city says the golf course is underused and too expensive to maintain.
A week later, after facing backlash from golf course supporters, Mayor Pitts dropped the plan and said the city would hear more public input before making a final decision.
On June 3, Montgomery County government announced at a commissioners meeting that the planned new Juvenile Resource Center – a long-awaited combination detention facility and support/education center – will be built on two parcels of land on Madison Avenue in the heart of a community poised for economic development.
The day after Clarksville Now published a story about the proposal, County Mayor Wes Golden backed away from the plan and said the county would look at other locations before making a final offer.
Bold leadership is needed, but so is public input
Bold, decisive executive leadership in local government has many benefits. To be sure, some mayors and county commissioners have held onto their seats throughout their tenure, entangling every move in a maelstrom of litigation, delay, and legislative indecision. Others have made bold decisions and crushed those who stood in their way, with mixed results.
But there is a middle ground, and no blind spots.
As for the hotel/motel tax plan, Pitts should have discussed with the EDC what he was trying to accomplish and gotten their buy-in or at least their input on the impacts before presenting the plan to City Council.
As for the Mason Rudolph Golf Course, the city should have opened up discussions to the general public, not to mention the neighbors around the course, before deciding on the future of the property.
As for the juvenile resource center, county officials should have discussed the proposal with nearby landowners and other stakeholders before presenting a site to the County Commission.
In either case, the choice is not necessarily wrong. A performing arts center needs to be built and some hotel/motel tax is a good way to pay for it. The idea of ​​turning the golf course into a park has some merit and is worthy of public discussion. A youth resource center is a critical need and should be located somewhere downtown, but could other options be considered?
Yes, good leadership ignores the opposition and moves boldly forward, but only after getting reasoned input from key stakeholders and the general public.
Here are three recent examples that show what it looks like when that doesn’t happen.
Chris Smith
