Lessons from Santa Claus
No, I have not been a bad boy!!
Santa Claus Indiana holds some very special memories for me. As a child we would visit Santa Claus Land every year to ride some squeaky carnival rides and have a chat and a photo with the Old Elf himself. And it’s where I first learned that the heavenly smell of deep-fried funnel cakes would remain instantly recognizable to me for a lifetime. In later days when my own children were of age Santa Claus Land had become Holiday World, and Christmas Lake Village had become home to a fantastic golf course I would travel the 33 miles to play a time or two each year. I have been thinking about Santa Claus Indiana over the past several weeks for two distinct reasons.
First, I have been confronted with the question Santa always asked me first — have you been a good boy or a bad boy this year? Santa’s annual curiosity about our personal viewpoint of our own behavior came to me when I learned my application to be a member of the HHPPOA Communications Committee had been rejected. A gut blow like that requires, I think, some reflection. So, I’ve been reflecting. In retrospect I wonder if the priorities I stated in a two-minute “interview” with Communications Director Pippi Itkor and new Board member and Communications Committee Chair McManus tanked my application — direct email access to Board members and public or live-streamed Board meetings. Am I a bad boy to want more transparency and accountability in our community government? What would Santa think? And that was my second thought — I know what Santa would think.
Everyone knows that Santa runs a tight ship to meet his annual mission. It is lesser known that while Santa offshored his manufacturing operation to the North pole many years ago, he lives in Southern Indiana - Santa Claus Indiana. And take a look at this……
And check this out too…………………………………………………
Coincidentally, I actually wrote about these issues in our very first substantive post EXACTLY one year ago today — that is the near total absence of openness and transparency in our elected governance — no email access, closed Board meetings and meeting minutes that do not meet any accepted standard for detail on offical discussions (and possibly don’t meet the legal requirements either). We do know who the bad boy is though — Peter Kristian, General Manager.
We wrote last June about a meeting of the Communications Committee in which the group discussed establishing email addresses for Board members. The minutes record the following: • A discussion was opened regarding the need for emails for board members and committee presidents. After input from Mr. Kristian it was determined that the existing communication flow through the board@hhppoa.com* email was sufficient. Of course the minutes do not reflect who opened the discussion, or give any hint of of the substance of any discussion among committee members (as guidelines require) or of the “input” from Mr. Kristian. It seems a safe assumption, however, that “input” from the person who actually receives the emails to board@hhppoa.org* carried the day. It would be nice to know why.
We now have a Board with three members who haven’t previously served on the Board. Will they push others to take up these questions of transparency — direct email. open or live-streamed meetings, accurate meeting minutes? Who knows. Will we stop pushing? That’s a big no. I will say this — we have the personal email address of every single Board member which we will not use ourselves or disseminate to the public. That’s because we understand and respect separating the personal from work. It would be nice if they acknowledged that campaigning for this responsibility to work in our governance comes with responsibilities to the community to be accessible. We’ll see.
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Of note, I took a bit of creative license suggesting that I was an unacceptable candidate for the communications committee simply because of my views on email and open meetings. It is entirely possible, maybe probable, that every other member was more qualified than I, but that wouldn’t make for a good story about Santa Claus or get to the question of whether I am a good boy or a bad boy. I beg forgiveness from anyone offended.
And lastly, on these issues my assessment, by the way, is that I am a good boy!!! I think Santa will agree.