HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/18/2018 07 Public Comment Distributed at the .-7
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GREATER YAKIMA
September 18, 2018
To each member of the Yakima City Council:
Before getting into the reasons for this letter, it is important that I reintroduce to all the
missions of both the City of Yakima and the Yakima Chamber of Commerce and
specifically how they align. The Chamber's mission states, "The Greater Yakima
Chamber of Commerce is an organization that promotes pride in our diverse
communities through positive leadership aimed at creating a cohesive, successful
business climate in our County." Similarly, the vision and mission of the City of Yakima,
reads, "To create a culturally diverse, economically vibrant, safe, and strong Yakima
community. To provide outstanding services that meet the community's needs. To
govern responsibly by effectively managing and protecting public resources. To build
trust in government through openness, diverse leadership, and communication. To
strategically focus on enhancing Yakima's quality of life."
Clearly, the purpose of the two entities are quite similar and even where different, they
complement each other.
The Chamber desires nothing but success for the City of Yakima and the City Council,
which is charged with governing the will and needs of its people. Therefore, it is
imperative (and we believe our duty) to share our concerns and examples of what we
(and many of our members and other citizens) believe show a steady decline in the
productivity of the Council and its leadership. These include:
m A lack of professionalism displayed by the Council. While disagreements are
expected, discussing these differences should be done in a respectful manner.
Snarky responses, eye rolling and speaking over one another has been
consistently witnessed at Council meetings over the last several months. This
public display of unprofessional behavior has lessened the effectiveness of the
Council and the leadership we expect from our elected officials.
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® The Council should represent the majority, not just the few vocal constituents
who have their ear. To be successful at the mission of providing "outstanding
services that meet the community's needs", the Council needs to understand
what those needs are. It is crucial the Council speak and work with, a greater
majority of our community, to gain an understanding of different perspectives
throughout Yakima. In addition, without this broad involvement of our
community, how will we grow or develop our future leaders?
® A lack of cohesiveness, specifically as it relates to honoring votes and initiatives
passed prior to current councilmembers' time on the Council. Where are we at in
follow-up and implementation of the citizen survey from 5 years ago? This full
access input was the basis of a great deal of strategic planning, which feels that it
has essentially been forgotten in the last 3 years. You stand on the shoulders and
efforts of those who preceded you. Instead of a uniform and consistent body that
can engender a level of trust over a period of years, and moves decisions forward,
a lack of trust and respect has formed. Progress appears to be bottlenecked or
stopped altogether. Council members will, of course, have personal thoughts and
beliefs regarding initiatives and city decisions, but need be reminded that
continuing to disregard decisions and initiatives of previous Councils may lead to
the undoing of many of the decisions and initiatives that this council puts in place,
by future councils. In other words, you are setting a precedent of disregarding
decisions made by ANY previous council, including yourself.
O Inconsistent problem solving and managing solutions. Over the last several
months, rather than working with community members and others to come up
with viable solutions and/or solve problems, the response to issues and projects
has more often been a simple and quick, "no". We hear often from Chamber
members and other citizens that they do not know what you, as a Council
represent or what you, as a governing body want to push forward as a mission. If
an issue or project is brought forward, even if all the details are not fully sorted
out, the Council should be trying to understand the "why" behind the
conversation and help Yakima's citizens accomplish its goal — as long as it is
reasonable and will not cause harm. For example, the business incubator project
was proposed and rejected. Its mission, to help grow small businesses, is viable
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and if the incubator is not the solution, what other avenues are you proposing to
help businesses succeed in Yakima? We understand there are budget restraints
and challenges, but Yakima will not grow and change without an actionable vision
for the future.
As stated earlier, on paper the Chamber and the City Council both have the best of
Yakima at heart. How both entities operate and act have a huge impact on businesses
and the perception of our city in the region. To be successful, we must take the steps,
no matter how small, toward fulfilling the vision of "enhancing Yakima's quality of life".
For the greater good, we encourage each of you to step back and ask yourself, "How am
I helping to solve problems? Are my actions and behaviors at meetings contributing to
progress?"
Thank you for taking time to read and reflect on the points in this letter. We look
forward to working with each of you in rebuilding the public's trust and confidence in
local government.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
y
Verlynn Best, CEO
Greater Yakima Chamber Board of Directors, members and staff
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