Wanted: Leaders With Good Judgment
August 25th, 2008 categories: Market Trends, Relocating
“Judgment is absolutely the most essential element in presidential decision making…I cannot emphasize enough how important that elusive quality is; far more important than organization, structure, procedures, and machinery. These are all important, yes, but nothing compared to judgment”
These words, spoken by President Kennedy’s friend and longtime advisor Ted Sorensen, were in response to a question about Kennedy’s exercise of judgment during the Cuban Missile Crisis. As you can see, Mr. Sorensen emphasizes the importance of proper judgment in times of crisis. He goes on to include decisiveness as another necessary leadership trait. While Sorensen was focusing on Presidential Leadership, these traits, and judgment specifically, are “must haves” for any leader. Recent words and deeds from Stafford County’s Supervisors makes one wonder if the word “judgment” was absent from their job application.
First, we had the Business, Professional, and Occupational License (BPOL) tax approval by the Supervisors, despite overwhelming opposition (reported to be 9 to 1 against) from their constituents. Following this vote, most of the county’s residents were asking themselves, “Did we really elect this group?” The BPOL is a tax on gross receipts with no deductions and must be paid even if the business is losing money. Advocates see BPOL as an untapped source of revenue. Those opposed regard it as grossly unfair. The public hearing on the tax was long and heated, but at the end of the day (actually, the meeting ended about 3:00AM), the supervisors voted 4-3 in favor of the measure. While innocent observers may wonder how occurred, a simple viewing of this short video of the meeting speaks volumes. In other words, it kind of says it all…and, it ain’t pretty!
Last week another public forum discussion took place, another Supervisor’s public hearing, to discuss a controversial proposal to shrink the Urban Services Area (USA), portions of the county where public sewer lines can be extended and high density development is recommended. Current USA boundaries encompass about 46,000 acres. The new boundaries would remove over half – 26,000 acres – from the USA, and phase in another 5,000 acres by 2019.
A recent study by George Mason economist Stephen Fuller found if the boundary changes are adopted, Stafford County could potentially lose around $100 million in net revenue from business. While real estate taxes could rise to make up for the loss, it would essentially make the county a “high-cost location” from resident and businesses. Instead of attractive new residents and businesses, higher costs would have the opposite effect. Fuller’s study was paid for the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce who want supervisors to review it closely. Supervisors indicated they plan on evaluating the boundary proposal during next month’s work session.
For many Stafford County residents, there’s still plenty of room to grow. For others, any growth is bad growth. With any prospective venture, before we jump to conclusions, let’s try and make this a Win-Win resolution.
One of the first steps in getting there might be by making a stop at Smart Growth, the site of some of the best and brightest ideas for smart community growth. As they indicate, “In general, smart growth invests time, attention, and resources in restoring community and vitality to center cities and older suburbs. New smart growth is more town-centered, is transit and pedestrian oriented, and has a greater mix of housing, commercial and retail uses. It also preserves open space and many other environmental amenities.” So, as you can see, it attempts to use the strengths and objectives of both sides of the argument to improve and expand communities.
It might be a good idea if that and other useful sources of information were “required reading” before next month’s Stafford County Supervisors get together. Judgment may be important, but it sure makes decision making a lot easier when you have the information you need before making a decision.
