Welcome to the latest edition of the series of discussions with thought leaders who are bringing new and innovative solutions to the challenges government faces in delivering services to the citizen.
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My guest for this episode is Robin Crosbie Town Manager in Ipswich Massachusetts. In June 2012 Ms. Crosbie was chosen as the new town manager in Ipswich after an exhaustive search conducted by the Board of Selectman.
Robin
Crosbie (right) Town Manager in Ipswich Massachusetts
As town manager Robin's responsibilities include management of all town hall departments, active participation in the twice per month Board of Selectman meetings, active planning for and participation in the annual and special town meetings and various other committee meetings and citizen gatherings.
Since coming to Ipswich Robin has identified strategic opportunities to focus its resources upon. She has worked to make sure that the town budget is tied to the goals of the Board of Selectman and the community.
Robin worked with the Capital Planning Group comprised of town and school personnel to develop a proposed five year capital plan. She has worked with state and federal agencies including seeking support for the town from FEMA after the impacts of the February 2013 blizzard. We talk about her typical day, her responsibilities, challenges and opportunities for the town.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the “L” channel. Please stay tuned for future editions. You may follow us on Twitter @LyceumPodcast and subscribe to our episodes on iTunes and through my feed.
Welcome to the continuing series of discussions with thought leaders who are bringing new and innovative solutions to the challenges government faces in delivering services to the citizen.
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Last Tuesday we the citizens of Ipswich carried on a
tradition that is documented to have taken place in town since at least 1635.
The tradition of the town meeting in Ipswich is as close to the ideal of a pure
democracy as any form of self-governance demonstrated across history. Any voter
may attend the town meeting, address the body on topics germane to the issues
and vote. This unique franchise is something to be cherished and preserved.
The Ipswich Town meeting is more than just a historical
artifact. It is a living legislative body. Real issues that impact the day to
day lives of the citizens of the town are decided upon by those affected by
their decisions. Rules are made. Money
is spent. Taxes levies are recommended to the ballot. Unique to just about
every other form of government, this deliberative process results in votes cast
not by proxy by a representative in some distant legislature. These decisions are made by neighbors, with
neighbors, for the good of the community.
As different from the 17th century as is the world of today,
the matters of community dealt with at the town meetings remain remarkably
similar. During the April 20, 1635 meeting the issues deliberated included
regulations on fencing of house lots and the distribution of land grants. Last
Tuesday we the people of Ipswich decided issues including the grant of an
easement providing public access to the Ipswich River and regulations for the
location of marijuana dispensaries in town.
There are also stark and telling differences between the
town meeting of history and today. These distinctions inform part of the
reasons that the town meeting remains essential. In 1635 only a few select
individuals were able to make decisions that affected anyone living in town.
Today although we retain some of the vestiges of those days in such
institutions as the Board of Selectman, the town meeting has evolved into a
democratic institution that is uniquely American. That you are registered to
vote in the Town is the only qualification to attend and participate.
The Ipswich Town meeting is a living demonstration of the
American political ideal of inclusion. More importantly in an age of
factionalism and gridlock, government in Ipswich works. We come together as a
community, we debate as a community and we decide as a community.
Is it perfect? No institution involving people can ever be
perfect. Nor can everyone be happy when
difficult decision are made. The town meeting reflects our human condition. We
are the town meeting.
Thank you for being part of the audience of the “L” channel. Please stay tuned for future editions. You may follow us on Twitter @LyceumPodcast and subscribe to our episodes on iTunes and through my feed.
Welcome to the continuing series of discussions with thought leaders who are bringing new and innovative solutions to the challenges government faces in delivering services to the citizen.
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My guest for this episode is Chairman of the Board of Selectman for the Town of Ipswich Massachusetts, Charles Surpitski. Mr. Surpitski and I discuss a range of topics including how the Board of Selectman conduct business as the Chief Executive body for the town, how the Board relates to other boards and panels in town and the planning for the upcoming Oct 15, Special Town Meeting.
Mr. Surpitski has worked for the Town of Ipswich for 35 plus years starting as a patrolman in the Police Department in 1971 and rising through the ranks culminating in being appointed the Chief of the Department in 1989.
In 1991 the Town reorganized the department adding to Mr. Surpitski’s duties as Chief the responsibilities as the Town's first Director of Public Safety.
His duties included managing the police department, fire department, shellfish warden, overseeing the harbors, emergency management, ambulance services and animal control.
Mr. Surpitski retired in 2006. He did the usual newly retired projects and trips and then had an urge to return to public service. He decided to seek election as a selectmen and in 2008 was elected and then re-elected in 2011.
He is a lifelong resident of the town and comes from a family of civil servants. His Dad was a police officer and Chief of Police and his only sister was a public school teacher.
Mr. Surpitski says that it has been an honor and pleasure to grow up in such a wonderful diverse town and to be able to contribute to the quality of life of the residents.
Synopsis:
Charlie and I discuss a typical Board of Selectman meeting which begins with the “minutia” of government. In addition during each meeting the board tries to deal next with one or two issues that are important to the community. Recent examples include efforts by the board to use town resources to enhance economic development in the town. The town has three sources of revenue: property taxes, fees and state aide. “In order to continue the services that we offer in town government,” Charlie says, “it is necessary to find other sources of revenues.”
On the subject of economic development, Charlie says the board’s recent discussions have been about what areas of town are attractive to businesses and what infrastructure resources will attract new businesses to the town. “There is always some items of substance related to the future of the community that are on the agenda,” Charlie says. Correspondence, new business and updates round out the typical Board of Selectman meeting.
Charlie urged that citizen participation is important. The best way to view the meetings are to come to the meetings. Recognizing that people are busy there are other options to participate. Citizens may watch the meetings live on Ipswich Community Access Media (ICAM). Board meetings are also available for on-demand replay via the Community tab of the town’s web page. The Board of Selectman is, “One of the few places where we legislate in front of the people,” says Charlie.
Charlie talks about the responsibilities of Chairman. These include working continually through the weeks with the town manager and the professional staff keeping on top of issues that are import to the Board, to the town as a whole, setting the agenda, running the meetings and dealing with the significant amounts of correspondence received.
Charlie says that it is really important that someone respond the correspondence. “We don’t wait, it’s the responsibility of the chair to direct communications to the right party and that someone get in touch with that person and let them know that someone is looking into their issues.“ Charlie says, “It takes a great deal of time, but it is time well spent,” he continues.
Other important issues in front of the Board today include finding a way to renew the town’s public safety facilities. Charlie said, “Our fire station was built in 1907 actually for horse drawn fire apparatus and certainly apparatus has changed.”
Storm water, sewer extensions, no matter what the issue is, even if it is in relative terms small, if someone took the time to bring it up, Charlie says, “We view these smaller issues as just important as the bigger ones.” He goes on, “We continue to try to improve town services, make sure they are running efficiently and economically; their all big issues.”
Getting back to the issue of economic development, Charlie points to New England Biolabs and EBSCO Industries as two examples of businesses who have made a big commitment to Ipswich revitalizing the downtown and being great community partners.
We talk about how the Board of Selectman works with other boards and panels in town. Charlie says the Board of Selectman is made up of only five members and so they depend a lot upon volunteers. He says the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals and the Conservation Commission are regulatory boards and they need the support, understanding and thanks of the Board of Selectman. They are, “Folks stepping forward, without pay, to make sometimes very difficult and tough decisions,” he says.
Charlie continues that there are also a myriad of other interests in the community including the Shellfish Committee interested in preserving the resource, the Storm Water committee who are making sure that water that flows through the rivers and over the clam flats is clean. Charlie says, “It is so important that people who have an interest participate and to advise us as to how to proceed.”
We then talk about the role of the Board of Selectman in planning for what Town Moderator Tom Murphy describes as the, “Pure Democracy” of the town meeting. Ipswich maintains the tradition of the open town meeting where all residents are encouraged to attend town meeting and participate in decisions including passing the town budget. Charlie says, “It’s one of those unique situations where people decide the fate of government.”
With regard to the town meeting the role of the Board of Selectmen is to bring the issues that need to be decided upon by the body politic to the warrant. This is includes working with the Town Manager Robin Crosbie, other boards and citizens of the town to create the warrant which forms the agenda for the meeting. All citizens have the right to bring issues of concern to the town meeting. The most important issues is probably the town budget. “The people,” Charlie says, “actually vote to implement it, Charlie says” In between town meetings he continues, “It’s up to the Board of Selectman to make sure that will of the legislative body is implemented.”
The interview concludes with Charlie encouraging the citizens of Ipswich to attend the public hearings, to hear the pros and cons of the particular issues and to be prepared to participate in the town meeting. Charlie urges citizens of the Town of Ipswich to attend town meeting. “We understand that it can be difficult to get there and to dedicate three or four hours on a Monday or Tuesday night,” he says. The bottom line is that, “It is our town, it is important, and we want to have the widest participation that we can,” Charlie says.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the “L” channel. Please stay tuned for future editions. You may follow us on Twitter @LyceumPodcast and subscribe to our episodes on iTunes and through my feed.
Welcome to the second in a continuing series of discussions with thought leaders who are bringing new and innovative solutions to the challenges government faces in delivering services to the citizen.
I am your host Guy Clinch and my guest in this episode is Anne L Hardwick, immediate past chair of the Corporate Affiliate Committee of the National Association of State Technology Directors.
Anne Hardwick
In her career Anne has worked for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce doing extensive television studio production work in the Chamber's state-of-the art facilities in Washington, DC.
Anne then served a long career with the Commonwealth of Virginia first as the manager of Telemedia Operations rising to the position of Associate Director of Telecommunications and Network Services.
Today Anne works with AVI-SPL to grow a strong relationship between AVI-SPL and the NASTD membership. She and her husband are also proprietors at the Tanglewood Ordinary Restaurant, “Home of ‘Grandmother's Sunday Dinner’ …and more.”
Anne describes the National Association of State Technology Directors organization and tells a bit about the organization's history. Anne talks about her history with NASTD that goes back to her time as a state member representing the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Guy asks Anne about her experiences in leadership roles. Anne first tells of her tenure as a state member functioning as the Eastern Region President. Over the past several years Anne has returned to the organization representing various commercial organizations. Anne's achievements include being elected to represent the Corporate Affiliate Committee in various leadership roles culminating in her recent term as Chairperson.
Anne describes the function of the Corporate Affiliate Committee. She talks about a number of the companies who are corporate affiliates members of NASTD and how the Corporate Affiliate Committee relates to the state membership and supports the organization. Anne talks about the benefits that the organizations she has represented have accrued and how she has benefited personally from involvement and membership of the NASTD organization.
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Thank you for listening to this episode of the “L” channel. Please stay tuned for future editions. You may follow us on Twitter @LyceumPodcast and subscribe to our episodes on iTunes and through my Hipcast RSS feed.
Warmest regards,
Guy Clinch Google
Welcome to the first in a continuing series of discussions with thought leaders who are bringing new and innovative solutions to the challenges government faces in delivering services to the citizen.
Bernie O'Donnell
I am your host Guy Clinch and my guest in this episode is Mr. Bernard O'Donnell, Director, Communications Services for the State of Connecticut. Bernie O’Donnell leads the Communications Services and Telecommunications Billing and Order Processing units within the Bureau of Enterprise Systems and Technology in Connecticut’s Department of Administrative Services.
Synopsis:
In this short interview we cover a lot of topics. Bernie tells us a bit about his role with the State of Connecticut and highlights a number of major successes. These include the roll out of a statewide network supporting public safety whose anchor tenant are the more than 100 call centers that take incoming 9-1-1 calls from the public and act as the keystone to government’s response. This multipurpose network will also eventually support communications to the state’s school districts. The goal is to maximize the value of that network for other applications.
Bernie talks about the challenges that individual agencies often face in dealing with telecommunications. Government priorities in the recent tight fiscal environment have caused postponement of investments in telecommunications upgrades. Bernie’s organization is innovating in the face of this challenge by offering individual agencies who can use it the most the opportunity to join an enterprise approach to telecommunications.
“The enterprise system will be operated, managed and upgraded without the agencies having to spend an inordinate amount of time individually,” Bernie said. “We can manage this much more efficiently and effectively and bring higher-end call center, Interactive Voice Response and other capacities to smaller agencies who wouldn’t be able to afford that type of capability on their own." Bernie continued that his agency expects that this approach will, “Provide efficiencies, save money, improve service levels and offload some of the telecommunications responsibilities from the agencies,” for whom this is a business overhead today.
In addition to his work with the State of Connecticut Bernie is an active member in the National Association of State Technology Directors. NASTD is the member-driven organization of technology professionals serving state government whose purpose is to advance and promote the effective use of information technology and services to improve the operation of state government. Bernie tells us of his current volunteer role as the organization’s treasurer and his previous experiences as a member of NASTD’s board when he served as president of the Eastern Region. Bernie also talks about the upcoming 36th Annual Conference & Technology Showcase that will take place August 25 - 29, 2013 in Charleston, South Carolina.
Bernie highlights key aspects of the agenda entitled, Climbing Into the Clouds Transforming Technology Services for Tomorrow and encourages anyone interested in promoting the increased ability for state government to provide services to the citizen to attend this valuable conference.
Bernie gives a preview of featured conference speakers including:
Mike Liebhold, Distinguished Fellow, Institute for the Future
Dr. Paul Marciano, Business Author: “Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work”; and keynote speaker,
The interview concludes with Bernie speaking about one of the most significant challenges facing state government, the anticipated retirement wave. The State of Connecticut as other states estimate that as many as 40 percent of the state’s workforce are retirement eligible in the next three years. Bernie says that one solution may be that the State of Connecticut looks to increased partnering with contractors. For functions that once would have been handled in house, Bernie says, “We now look to a corporate provider with oversight from the state.”
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Thank you for listening to this inaugural episode of the “L” channel. Please stay tuned for future editions. You may follow us on Twitter @LyceumPodcast and subscribe to our episodes on iTunes.
Warmest regards,
Guy Clinch Google
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