Second in a series. 

Re: “Clarke’s Idea on Division of Labor”

Mayor Jim Clarke was born ambitious, aggressive in a nice way.

It was entirely natural for him to breathing room aside when designing the layout for Monday’s first-ever one-day City Council Strategic Planning Retreat at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9 a.m. sharp.

In an understated way – to say it diplomatically – the public is kind of invited to sit in on the sessions.

Mostly, however the preference is for them to pretend they are statues.

Organizers would like them to keep their own counsel, resisting the juicy temptation to leap up and declare a headline-worthy opinion.

Mr. Clarke’s attainable goal is to outline six major topics he and his City Council colleagues can explore in depth the next two years (when he will be term-limited).

This nine-hour outing is the mayor’s latest brainchild, drawn from an overflowing file of ideas that Mr. Clarke wants to develop.

Preparing for this work-centric, non-social retreat requires steep research – by the city staff, right? Wrong.

Remember that Mr. Clarke is a hands-on mayor.

“When I started working with staff on this idea,” said the mayor, “they were kind of thinking to themselves, ‘Boy, this is going to be a lot of work for the staff.’”

After reading the first several pages of their minds, Mr. Clarke asked, ‘Why does this have to be work for the staff? If I am interested in a particular topic, why can’t I, as a Council member, be responsible for planning this event?’”

Smiles by people not named Clarke lip up the room.

Mr. Clarke used this story to illustrate why he explained to Council colleague Thomas Small why the Sustainability Subcommittee – not city staff – should do the heaviest work in research policy and language for the upcoming ban on Styrofoam food containers.

(To be continued)