Why would a county government need to engage in strategic planning? In this episode, Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes and MSU Local Government Center Director Dan Clark join the commissioners to discuss Missoula County's strategic planning process and how it helps the organization advance beyond "the way we've always done it." This includes planning through the lens of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion; incorporating flexibility to accommodate all county departments; and infusing empathy into local government.
Missoula County is carving out a courageous new path in hopes of creating an efficient model that will be used not only for the County, but also as a valuable resource across Montana. This episode is full of leadership nuggets and exemplifies the power of creating a framework that benefits not only your organization, but the community it serves in the best way possible.
Thank you to Missoula's Community Media Resource for podcast recording support!
Why would a county government need to engage in strategic planning? In this episode, Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes and MSU Local Government Center Director Dan Clark join the commissioners to discuss Missoula County's strategic planning process and how it helps the organization advance beyond "the way we've always done it." This includes planning through the lens of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion; incorporating flexibility to accommodate all county departments; and infusing empathy into local government.
Missoula County is carving out a courageous new path in hopes of creating an efficient model that will be used not only for the County, but also as a valuable resource across Montana. This episode is full of leadership nuggets and exemplifies the power of creating a framework that benefits not only your organization, but the community it serves in the best way possible.
Thank you to Missoula's Community Media Resource for podcast recording support!
Welcome back to the Tip of the Spear with your Missoula County commissioners. Last two days have been busy with strategic planning for the County, and we thought this would be a great time to share that experience with you. So fellow commissioners Dave Strohmaier and Josh Slotnick and I are joined by our facilitator Dan Clark and our chief operating officer, Anne Hughes. And we're going to explore the process of strategic planning, why Missoula County makes this investment with both time and money. And then we'll wrap up with some highlights from the process.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Thanks so much for joining us, Dan and Anne. It's really great to have you here, and it's been a really enjoyable, if not intense bit of strategic planning that we're still in. We have this afternoon to go. Yeah. So before we dive in with the rest of this conversation, would you mind telling folks who are listening what your role is in this, Anne, and what your role is in this, Dan?
Facilitator Dan Clark:I'm Dan Clark and I'm the director of the Local Government Center. We're based out of Montana State University and we work with local governments around the state building their capacity. And so we've been invited by the Missoula County commission to work with the County, and it's leadership in developing a strategic plan. This process has been going on for quite some time. It's getting close to a year now. This is a continuation. I think we did this in 2017. We did a strategic plan with the County at that point. And then when we came back to renew and refresh that plan is where we're at now and we recognize that the previous process we employed needed some work. And so that's why this process is, rather than taking a day and a half and a retreat style process like we did before, this engagement is taking more time for some very apparent reasons. I don't know if I explained who I was. Other than the director of the Local Government Center.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Is that a version of Extension? MSU Extension?
Facilitator Dan Clark:Yeah. So we're we're affiliated with the MSU Extension program and we've been with the Extension Service organizationally since about 2009. Prior to that, we were part of the political science department in the College of Letters and Sciences, and for a variety of reasons, it made more sense to have the center migrate from an academic department into extension as they made my position of 100% outreach. And so we're no longer tied to campus teaching classes and managing students. But now we're working in engaging local governments around the state, and there couldn't be a greater need for this type of work. The work that we do is non biased and so we don't have an agenda and so we can speak candidly and really teach and facilitate and build capacity of local governments around the state to better serve the citizens. And so I think that fits really well within the Extension mission of outreach and helping build capacities around the state in a variety of ways. We're just a very small sliver of an overall extension program that has an impact statewide
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Before we get to our strategic planning. Can you talk a bit about what is some of the types of problems you help governments with?
Facilitator Dan Clark:Yeah. Thanks, Josh, for letting me talk about that because we could spend the rest of the hour just talking about that.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:Specifically, what problems do other governments have that we have that we do not.
Facilitator Dan Clark:One of the challenges we have is being a very small staff, but a tremendous need for this work is just working with local governments and government officials when they first get into government. So newly elected individuals. We just had a municipal election. So we're going to have a whole group of new mayors and new city councils that are joining the ranks of governing. And they don't always come to the table with the expertise or experience or background. And we found that initially they may come with a certain level of expectation that isn't always consistent with the reality of their service, whether that's the law constrains what they think they can and cannot do, or their fellow commissioners or council members. And so after an election is really a busy time for us as we're traveling around the state working with these newly elected folks. And I'm convinced that if we can help them understand the role and responsibility and the framework in which they operate in early on in their tenure, it reduces the conflict that may arise to where you might have a local government go a little bit off the rails, and it's really challenging when they get entrenched in their, shall we say, dysfunction, and it may require an election to get out of that. And that's really a lost time in that two years until some dynamic shifts. And so if we can get in there early and help these officials understand, they could be more effective, more productive, their relationships are better when they understand the lane they operate in. And how my lane is a council member is different than the lane of the mayor or vice versa. And what's the role of the staff? And so they can really be engaged in a meaningful way, and it reduces the amount of conflict that we have to deal with later. Some respects for like firefighters, we get called when there's a fire and it usually when you're trying to minimize the destruction. And so we're also trying to be on the front end of that in the fire prevention. And that's where this time of the year, right now, my January is booked. We have 14 trainings with municipal governments around the state, from Libby to Daniels County and Sheridan County, the very opposite of the state. So we're traveling around and working with these local governments and elected leaders in the state. Not to mention that's just municipalities and we have the counties that we work with, the counties not unlike what we're doing with you. We just came off last week a training for elected county officials in Helena for three days and then the other component that we work with is the special districts and boards. So there's a whole nother layer of government that exists beyond just the county commissioners and the city council. But there's all these citizen boards that exist and the role that they play in helping govern our communities. And so we feel a tremendous need to engage them and teach and train them about their roles and responsibilities as board members so that they can help you as commissioners make better decisions. As you have this whole network of citizens engaged in very specific themes or topics like airport weeds, land use, planning, zoning and then you've got the fire districts and water districts and sewer districts, community councils in your county. You have all these community councils that are advising you. So how do we build the capacity of those community councils to function effectively so that they're informing and advising you for the needs that they have in their local communities?
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:Yeah, we're super thankful that you and the Local Government Center exists as a resource here in the state of Montana. That's fantastic. Anne Hughes, is this the first time you've joined us for one of our Tip of the Spear events?
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:It is.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:It is. Well, I guess, given that fact, why don't you tell us a little bit about your position as chief operating officer in Missoula County? What that means and also related to the topic today? What what's the value of strategic planning here in Missoula County government?
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:I will try to remember all the questions because first I need to start by complimenting Dan and just reiterating what a resource the Local Government Center is and just how much we rely on them. They, some of our listeners to Tip of the Spear if they belong to a county board, may remember Dan from providing really, really valuable training to them as as members of those boards and committees that serve as volunteers. And we are very, very grateful to have Dan and Ashley as a resource and are really excited to get to work with them on this process. I'm not sure if there is excited to work with us because we keep changing things up on them a little bit, but it's OK. I think we're muddling through. So I'm the chief operating officer for Missoula County and the departments and divisions that I have the pleasure of getting to work with include the Office of Emergency Management, Elections, the Community Justice Department, Strategic Initiatives and your commissioners, office staff and Communications. The exceptional communications team that Missoula County has. Then I'm a little partial to myself. I really admire all of them so much, but I also get to take on things at your request, right? So I get to do really exciting things like support, other efforts and initiatives. So I also have been supporting the Operation Shelter effort. I've been supporting the carbon neutrality team. As a member of that team, I get to work on different initiatives that really, hopefully for the better, impact the work of all county staff
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:How about strategic planning?
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:Strategic planning for Missoula County is a really interesting thing. As Dan mentioned, we got together in 2017 and that was when the County really first started looking at developing, going through a process of developing a mission and vision statement and value statements. And a lot of that work was done because we needed those foundational elements for our work. But we also had just are coming off of a big transition in leadership and elected officials at that time. And so that time that we spent together in 2017 was a bit of a team building experience as well, and I would argue that the last couple of days have served that purpose. In addition to some of the other kind of, you know, nuts and bolts work that we've been doing.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Dan, there are a few different styles and methods used in strategic planning. Can you talk about how you chose to do what you're doing and how you determine what the right course of action was for us and specific to the challenges we are facing?
Facilitator Dan Clark:That's a great question, Josh. The traditional way of providing strategic planning is where we'll work with an organization and we'll define what is your mission? What's the mission of the organization? What's your purpose for existing? What's your vision? Where would you like to be in five or 10 years from now? What are the core values that you use to to operate and function? And then what are your goals over the next three to five years? What are the strategies that you need to develop in order to accomplish those goals? And what are the specific actions? So it's a very classical strategic planning process. It works great for a single purpose organization or a nonprofit. They have clarity about who they are and what they do, and this is the process we followed back in 2017. And leaving that experience, and we've done it a couple of times since, and I've just never felt comfortable as an outcome of that process applied to a county. Because you're not a single purpose organization. You have such a breadth. I often say that if a county were to be sold to a venture capital fund, the first thing they would do is divide you up in like 15 different pieces and sell you off. And so what we've done, we've gathered all these disparate components of public service and public good into one governing organization. So having that linear approach to strategic planning with this aggregate of mission and purpose doesn't really work very well or as a result of that process, you get such a generic vision and mission so that everyone fits underneath that tent. It's not good for anybody and that's what we've been kind of stewing over. And so when we're re-engaged, when that process had a timeline to, I think it was a three-year strategic planning. And so at the end of 2020, we started the conversation again. It's time to redo this. But you know, I think the staff came to us and we were going to them mutually thinking, Yeah, but we can't do what we did before. It doesn't serve anybody well. You know, certainly we could come in and we could all go to a hotel ballroom and as a group and go through that process in a day and a half. But the outcome isn't going to be very meaningful. And so to have something meaningful that drives and directs the work of the County government, I think we decided to take a different approach. And I'll say it, we're building the plane while we're flying it. Maybe there are organizations out there that do this type of work and they've got it dialed in. We don't know them. I don't know them. If you knew them, you'd probably be reaching out to them. So, but so we're we're really trying to figure out and we kind of test and we say, well, what if we approach it this way? And we started out with this idea of buckets? What are the main buckets that the County operates in these main bucket? You know, we can kind of classify and group most of the services you provide in these main buckets. What if we approach it in this bucket concept and then we have more of a kind of still maintaining that linear. Then we'll create these strategic plans for each of these buckets. And as we went through that process separating these buckets and having conversations at the end of that initial phase, as we're transitioning to the next phase, we realized this isn't getting us where we want to go either. And so we're just kind of reinventing the process each time. It's one of those things, you'll know it when you see it or you'll know it when you find it. And I think we're getting closer to finding that outcome. And I think we've now gotten to the point of developing a framework that we can operate from that the county can use at all departments that has some level of flexibility in it. It's not a rigid process, but there is some malleability to this process that as we filter ideas and initiatives and needs of the community through this framework, at the end, you have a better understanding of the capacity of the organization to address those and then how. You know, how are we going to deal with that? And it's not going to give you that straight here is your three goals, here's your two strategies, and these six actions need to be done by the end of the year. Whatever, it's not going to be that simple, but it will allow you to be more strategic in your decisions and in the processes you adopt. And we're making a big effort to move away from a binary approach that it's either a yes, we can do this or no, we can't. But what's the space between the yes and no? And I think that's what we're really digging into now is exploring that space between yes and no, that what does it look like and how do we and so our are, yes, may be different than a traditional yes, we'll take that as a direct service, but it might be a little nuanced or it might be not now, but we have to build capacity or maybe in a couple of years or, yeah, we can address that today, here now. And it's done. But I think being more nuanced about that space between yes and no is what we're exploring. It's fascinating work.
Commissioner Juanita Vero:So we're the first county in the state of Montana to try something like this
Facilitator Dan Clark:That I'm aware of, yeah, and in its fitting.
Commissioner Juanita Vero:And why is that, yeah?
Facilitator Dan Clark:Because you're the tip of the spear dah dah dah. There's a complexity that exists in Missoula County and the needs that are articulated, and the engagement in the County is just different than a lot of the other counties. And I bet sometimes you may feel, gosh, I wish I were a rural eastern Montana county where it would be less complicated. But any of the metro counties are facing some really challenging, complicated issues. We've got tremendous growth. We have a limitation on the ability to raise and generate funds to address current operations, but also the expanding needs of your community. And it just puts you in a tough spot. And as you are effective at meeting the needs of your community, what you'll find is more people come to you with more needs.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:I guess I would argue that meeting the needs of our community and getting to yes can be more expansive. Whether you live in a rural, small eastern Montana County or one of our urban counties in that. And I think this is what's hung us up and has brought actually a much deserved reputation to government across the nation. Is this sense that government is always an impediment? Default answer is always no. And maybe the yes answer is not that we and our employees and local government are doing the thing that you're asking for, but we're playing a role in helping connect you to solutions and helping find partners. Are helping find additional funding or resources to accomplish this, that or the other thing, and that's a different way of looking at our role that moves us away from this business as usual. Nope, that's someone else's business to figure that out.
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:Well, if I can add to I mean, I think what Missoula County is so exceptional at is having elected officials and staff who are eager to jump in and build trust with the community and be that organization that people can turn to. And the yes may look different, but we have really, really hard working folks. And in the last two days, what I've heard from people in the room are we want to build that trust and be supportive of thinking expansively. And at the same time, we have to make sure that we're doing it in a way that allows us to succeed five years from now, right? So we have to keep in mind that sustainability, I think that county electeds and staff are really an extraordinary blend of elected officials and public administrators, right? I mean, public administration is where the rubber hits the road and we have a lot of really dedicated public servants who want to do that and who are mindful of how that should happen.
Commissioner Juanita Vero:So you've been with the County for 15 years, so give us a history lesson or what have you seen over the course of those 15 years? And how do you think strategic planning, like what are the tangible benefits you think you've seen?
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:Well, I I don't know that I can answer what are the tangible benefits because we're so early in this and were the first county to do it. So I think that remains to be seen. But I think what I do see is an enthusiasm from everyone involved, I think over the last, this is going to sound silly, I've been here for 16 years. I started as a legislative intern during the 2005 session and it was so it was such an exciting time to be in local government. What I've seen is a government that is responsive. I always kind of joke that and I don't mean this to sound disparaging of prior commissions, but I've seen us kind of graduate from, you know, junior high to high school to grad school to, you know, getting our doctorate. I just I think that we've grown in complexity and we've needed to be more innovative and how we're tackling really, really big problems because if it was a problem 10 years ago, yes, it was complicated and it might have been solved. But I would argue that the problems today are are a little bit more complex, and I think there are a lot of reasons for that. So I think we have to lean into that and be excited to be part of the solution. So I'm really proud to be a county employee and I'm glad I've been here for as many years as I have, and it's fun to see the growth and to see new young folks start working in local government who didn't really see themselves in local government and who are learning about it in their work and getting excited about public service.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Yeah, that's great. Thanks. Yeah, I'm really personally excited about the timeliness of this. As we all know, we're in a historical moment right now, unlike any other and the light that COVID has shined on, society has illuminated long standing problems in ways we previously didn't see and simultaneously exacerbated problems that were already there. And I think we're all recognizing that our ability to address those issues has been a bit constrained by old patterns. And as Dan pointed out, we're talking about creating a framework where we can evaluate new issues or these old issues that are now bigger and determine, is this something we should take on? And if we should take it on, how do we do it? And as Dave was pointing out, the answer isn't always staff throws money at it and takes it on the way we've taken on grading county roads. That's just one way. We are a convener and a and a partner and a collaborator and work with a whole bunch of other governmental entities, nonprofit entities, the for profit sector, the public, etc. And this is a way we can kind of codify all those resources. This is a set of resources, a set of tools we have at our disposal, and we can consider each one of these new issues through a framework and decide how we best say attack these things, how we best address them. Given that we have all these tools at our disposal and we previously haven't had such a framework. We've had an informal thing where we have incredible staff, great group here, I think, and we work through these things conversationally. But we've been lacking a framework and I'm personally hoping out of these next couple of days, we end up with this framework determining should we take this on and how do we do it?
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:A great segue Josh, I'm looking at the Local Government Center's crystal ball on the table right now and Dan, admittedly, we are in the middle of a lunch break and during one of our days in which we are doing this planning process, can you talk to us a little bit about where you see this going? We're talking about creating a framework. I've seen visual representations of what this decision making model might look like, where you get ideas coming in and a solution or or a decision coming out the other end and just talk to us, where where might we go with this? And for those practically minded folks out there, what might be a deliverable at the end of this process?
Facilitator Dan Clark:Part of that is it's an iterative process that we're working through, and in some respects, we're in a pitch black room and all we have is a candle at our chest. And as we can only see what's around us at this particular moment, we've got to step into that void and it will then reveal in front of us the direction to go. Each step is informative, and what becomes apparent to me is that you, as commissioners, are making decisions and you have a particular vision in your mind. You're operating from a set of values. And the desire, and I think your desire is that you're you're attempting in your values and your vision is reflecting the interests and needs of the community. As these things come to you, you're trying to put it through how what's the County's role? Should we be doing this and then how should we be doing it? And there's this space between the values that you operate from and operationalizing the work. And that's that space that between the yes and the no that we've been talking about. And that's what we're trying to frame out. What are these guiding principles? And these guiding principles is not so rigid like we were before that either were locking people out in the organization because it's too myopic or one size fits all and it's not the case. And so it's got to be more malleable. So we're going to use these guiding principles and with these guiding principles is going to be a whole lot of questions. And so as you as you think about the issues and opportunities that come your way as a county commission, you're filtering through these guiding principles and how does this fit and what questions do we need to ask and that will inform who you go to? Who do you partner with? What department do we engage or or is this going to be across department? What questions do we need to ask when we realize that they're already, you know, we don't have a lot of discretionary funds, we don't have a lot of people just sitting around reading romance novels or, you know, mechanic books, you know, during their their own hours, right there they are all totally engaged. So how are we going to fit this new idea into our existing portfolio given the capacity we currently have? And that's going to be a series of questions. How do we get to that yes? And I think that's what we're exploring these guiding principles. And I think as we're going through this, we're going to try to develop these guiding principles that allow not just you, but even the the departments. The staff as they are on that bottom side, also using these questions internally, asking themselves, So how are we going to address this? What way can we make things more efficient over here so it frees up some time over there? Or can we piggyback this onto an existing project? There's a variety of ways in which we can solve these problems, but what we're trying to create is that framework to have this filter through. And one of the things I just want to mention is that when we came back and re-engaged in this discussion, one of the really big things that we wanted to overlay through this whole process is justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. And that wasn't part of, you can see it in some of our values the values that the County developed in 2017. You can see a little bit of it, but I think really, we wanted to look at this in a much more intentional way as we're going through the strategic planning process. And I think that's in a response to what you're seeing. The vulnerabilities of this time that we're going through as the business of usual doesn't really work. And we've we've shown a light on some of those corners of our of our community and our society that we realize, wow, we need to we need to do something different. And that's what's been great about, you know, Missoula County. You have you've got a Jedi coordinator, I think coordinator or wow, that's a big deal. That's a big deal to have someone on staff that their job is to work with the whole organization, to think about and to challenge. Are we looking and engaging our community with justice and equity, diversity and inclusion in mind? And I think the county will be a richer place to work and to live when those things are valued. And so that's I think the other part of this process is as we go through this decision making framework and as we create these guiding principles that it's going to look different for the road department as it is to the health department, as the weed department, as the...
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:HR.
Facilitator Dan Clark:HR. Thank you. You know, each department is going to thank you, each department is going to use that those guiding principles in a way that applies to them. So it's not rigid, it's somewhat malleable, but there's going to be applicability, but it's going to be these series of questions and around these principles that will help guide and answer the question. So what is what is yes, look like? Because the easy thing is to say no.
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:And the benefit of that, I think, is it helps us lead with empathy, right, as an organization we're so interested in, how can we show up for people? How can we build that trust with our community and then protect it because it's something to be protected and preserved and sustained and that includes our employees. And I've really seen people in this process in the last couple of days really be excited and energetic about that idea.
Commissioner Juanita Vero:And it's great because I never think of the word empathy as something that you associate with local government.
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:Oh, but it should be, right?
Commissioner Juanita Vero:It should be, yeah. So truly tip of the spear sort of work we're doing here. Yeah. Tell us where that came from, that expression and what does it mean to you?
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:Tip of the spear. Well, I think it came from one of our first strategic planning conversations years a few years ago, a couple of years ago. Is that right? And to me, it means leading with courage, right? So being at the front and even if like, as Dan described, you know, you're holding that candle and you may only see of a couple of feet in front of you, but you keep going. And it may illuminate you your path the more you lean in and and travel. And it's exciting.
Facilitator Dan Clark:In some respects that the tip of the spear to me is also that you're taking on challenges that are, it's convenient or easier to just say, Oh, that's that's hard, that's a hard problem, it's going to be challenging and we'll we'll let the next generation, the next administration deal with that. And it seems to me that you're picking those things up and that you're not letting them just languish in your community, but you're providing that leadership. You're the tip of the spear saying, Yeah, if not us, then who? To some degree.
Commissioner Juanita Vero:Yeah, I feel really lucky coming into this position in 2019 and having that opportunity to have that strategic that those sort of been your second strategic planning session. Mm hmm. Because that #tots hashtag really became like a guiding ethos, almost. And that's what I felt like I was coming into. I don't feel like I created it. I felt like that energy was already there, and that hashtag kind of helped solidify it. But I don't know. Josh, Dave, what's tots mean to you?
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:Everything that Ann just said, and it's also so easy, particularly in the state of Montana, where Missoula County is, I'm going to use a wonky phrase here, but a general powers government. Where we can only do what the state legislature tells us we can do, as opposed to some municipalities who might be self-governing or other counties in theory, could be self-governing where they can do anything that they're not prohibited from doing it. It makes the default position of saying no all the easier when you're like us in that state of Montana, the state legislature didn't say we could do it. So sorry, folks, we can't do it. So I think the whole idea between being on the cutting edge, the tip of the spear, you name the metaphor is that we are pushing the envelope as far as ways in which we can serve the public and sometimes ways in which we've not thought of as even possible because we thought it was legally precluded from us to do when in reality, there might be creative ways to approach the problem differently than we've thought in the past.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:That's great. Thanks. So I'm answering your question. What about what this what that tip of the spear means? And to me, it does mean being creative and trying things. But what I really want to take this is towards a sense of boldness. So we're facing some huge, seemingly intractable problems right now, things around equity and and climate change and the horrible gap between cost of living and wages we have in Missoula. And that and the transformation that's happening to us and a demographically and socially. And to me, tip of the spear means we are going to try and address these things knowing that we might get it wrong, but we're going to try nonetheless. That's actually why we're here. Our job is not to cover ourselves and make sure we don't make a mistake. Our job is to attempt to address these things, regardless of the potential for getting it wrong. That's why we're here. If we don't try, who will
Commissioner Juanita Vero:Back to Anne's word courage, which is an urge you don't hear in local government?
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Well said, Anne.
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:Courage.
Facilitator Dan Clark:And if I may, I might circle back. Try to tie some of this together. As you mentioned the convening, and I want to tie on that convening idea that the county has a tremendous power to convene and bring people to the table. And that's some of that leadership role and stepping into that space, being a convener in your community. And I think that can provide a pathway for the County to address some of these or I want to back up not just the County because that implies a jurisdictional and boundaries in certain powers, but this community at large of Missoula is there's this convening power that exists, that it's possessed by the municipality, it's possessed by the County. The university, to some degree, has this convening power that you have the ability to bring people together. And by doing so, how do you empower them? How do we empower the community to address the community issues rather than community looking to government or entities to solve their problems? But how do we shift that back to the community so that they can say, You know what? Yes, it would be easier if the County could just address this because there's one organization that could do it, but we're unwilling to pay that cost. It's going to be too much for us to bear to to make that funded by county services, which means I'm not willing to pay more taxes. But how do we engage and empower our community so those folks across the community can say, let's come together and solve this. We don't necessarily need government to do that. And I think that empowerment comes from the convening and bringing the right people to the table and and where there is a role for county to play or role for the city to play or a role for the university or the hospital organizations or the nonprofits of business. Let, let's play those roles that really have the citizens own that. You know, if you think you're spending too much on law enforcement, stop breaking the law. Drive the speed limit, don't break into houses, you know, stop breaking the law, and we don't need law enforcement, but we need law enforcement because we're unwilling to govern ourselves in that way. So we need to have that check. We have to make that public investment. And so you can think about that in a lot of different ways, right? If we don't want to spend so much taxes, then how do we solve the problems or are we willing to just live with the problems that exist in our community? And that's a discussion, and it's an ever evolving discussion that you have. It's really the basis of society and governing is what are we willing to empower our elected officials to act on our behalf for our best interests? What are we willing to do ourselves? What are we willing to pay for? And you have to find some balance in delivering services, and it doesn't all have to come from the County.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:So excellent, because whether you're a Missoula County or whether you're a Wibaux County, you have the ability to convene. You have a bully pulpit in which you can utilize to project what you think might be a solution to a problem, even if you don't have all of the resources internally to pull it off unilaterally.
Commissioner Juanita Vero:Oh, that's so beautifully said before we close, can you each share what you're reading? Good book recommendation or any nuggets of wisdom we'd like to share with our listeners?
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:Have you heard of such a thing as reading?
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:It's a thing.
Facilitator Dan Clark:It's only emails. It's all I read anymore is this email.
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:I'm reading three books right now. I'm reading the Leadership Challenge for professional development. I am reading Atlas of the Heart for personal and professional development, and...
Commissioner Juanita Vero:Atlas of the Heart. That came out already?
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:Brene' Brown, it's out.
Commissioner Juanita Vero:I thought didn't come out until February.
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:No, I've got it.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:You guys are Bren Brown heads.
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:I am a fanatic.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:You were at the last festival.
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:Why do you think I talked about empathy? And then for fun, I'm reading the Louise Penny series. She's this extraordinary mystery writer and it takes place in Canada, and I have a love affair with Canada.
Commissioner Juanita Vero:Nuggets of wisdom.
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:Oh gosh. I would just say lead with your heart.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:Dan.
Facilitator Dan Clark:Yeah. The books I read are usually books on audible books because I travel so much, I'm well, that counts. Yeah, 30,000 miles a year in a car, so it doesn't make sense to. So I just finished the book by Tommy Caldwell, and I'm trying to remember the name. It starts with a P.. Tommy Caldwell was that climber that climbed in Yosemite and did the Dawn Wall is a fascinating kind of discussion. I think the reason why I liked reading those types of adventure books. I like to adventure. I'm an armchair adventurer, and it talks about that struggle, that struggle and that fortitude that one has to employ in order to overcome challenges in your life. And so it's always inspiring to me to read people how they the challenges that come to them or they choose to take on and then how they overcome that. And it's just inspirational to me as I think about the work that I do and I apply it to local government, we all have these challenges. And, you know, how do we maintain that fortitude to overcome those challenges and get to the other side and accomplish the get to the summit, get to the top of the climb or get out of that particular tight spot that you're in, you know, like Joe Simpson in the Touching the Void, if you've read that book. Oh boy. Anyway.
Commissioner Juanita Vero:Nuggets of wisdom.
Facilitator Dan Clark:I think that's it's how do we the tenacity of getting through the challenges that we face.
Commissioner Juanita Vero:How to access that tenacity.
Facilitator Dan Clark:Yeah
Chief Operating Officer Anne Hughes:It's a good thing. You like a challenge because the strategic planning process has has brought challenges. And so, boy, we really teamed up with the right guy.
Facilitator Dan Clark:But my guess is there's probably an academic journal at the end of all this. We I think we've we've come up with some really innovative ways and looking at this and I talked to colleagues, I, I'm a part of an association of other centers like mine across the country, and we meet quite often. I'm often visiting with my directors and I did talk to them about this idea of doing strategic planning through the lens of JEDI. And they are jaws dropped, their eyes got buggy and they said, Oh my goodness, that is really cool, can you? So they're very anxious to hear kind of a report and how this is going, because that is an area that has yet to be explored in local government is how do we put this lens? I'm not to say that there aren't local governments around the state that are doing around the country that are doing this, but my colleagues aren't aware of it and we're just starting. So I think it's, you know, are plowing new ground. We're finding new ways of doing things and eager to share. And I'll just say this when you've been in one county and worked with one county, you've been in one county and you've worked with one county, they're all unique. They're all different. I'm trying to pull out of this process on our side, what is the framework that we can use to replicate in another county? That they can go through within their context and with their experience, with their needs, and how do we frame something that would be of similar value and rigor and impact that we're going through in this process here and so that we can use this and share this across the state to your colleagues and other counties around the state. It's as I think there are some counties that are kind of watching over the fence saying, How is this going? And and is this a path that we should employ in our in our yard when it comes time?
Commissioner Juanita Vero:So exciting. Thanks, everyone, for listening and happy holidays.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:Thank you,
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Thank you.
Facilitator Dan Clark:Thanks. Thanks for the invitation.