I love Google. You can research almost any topic and find helpful information and ideas that people and communities have implemented. We can be further along the learning curve by understanding the successes and failures of others. One of the principles of successful organizations is having a mission or policy statement that is meaningful and known by all employees/members. When I worked in the offshore oil industry, I had a project mission statement that became the buzz with all my contractors and it was simply 'The safe way or the highway' which was a play on the dictatorial adage 'My way or the highway'. This simple phrase put safety at the top of the project priority list in all categories. At a vision retreat weekend my church worked on developing a new mission statement. At Chapel Hill it is simply "Celebrating, living and sharing Christ's love for all."
When I look at the City of Buckhannon's website, I cannot find our mission statement. Our mission is missing. I think we should boldly proclaim what it is that makes Buckhannon attractive to new families, vacation visitors and businesses. With that in mind, I fired up Google and found many examples of city/town mission statements. One mission statement provided by a friend, struck me as both fitting and needed for our city and it reads as follows modified for Buckhannon:
Buckhannon will provide responsive,
open and transparent government,
professional leadership and excellent
communication that will inspire a collaborative
environment for successful and speedy
implementation of community plans.
I like the sound of these words and I will honor the spirit of this mission when elected to city council. On the same web page as this mission statement, is a quote from Herm Albright that is a fitting end to today's blog:
"A positive attitude may not solve
all your problems, but it will
annoy enough people to
make it worth the effort."
I really enjoyed the Herm Allbright quote, Scott!
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