Straight talk from City Hall

Dale Martin
City Manager
City of Fernandina Beach
February 5, 2016 1:00 a.m.

“Communication is essential to our success, but it is critical that we are cognizant of the pitfalls of modern impersonal communication.”

In less than two months, I will reach my twentieth anniversary of embarking upon my career as a municipal manager. I started in the small lakeside community of Lexington, Michigan, a community that shares many attributes, on a much smaller scale, with Fernandina Beach. Lexington, with a population of only eight hundred at that time, had a “resort-oriented” downtown, some thriving local industry, and an active waterfront, including a state-operated marina. Perhaps I was too new to recognize the beauty of such a community, but I surely appreciate the beauty of this community.

Perhaps the most notable change as a municipal official from twenty years ago to today is the development of electronic communications. Mobile telephones were still somewhat rare (and the size of a brick). I remember getting my first pager to facilitate communications when I was out of the office.

Now we all have pocket-sized telephones that enable us to communicate instantaneously with others pretty much anywhere in the world. A related problem is that the users of those telephones expect us to communicate instantaneously at the time of their choosing.

Although I cannot offer the specific citation, I remember coming across a survey some time ago about the expected “response time” to various communication methods. Respondents were asked to state the expected response time when a message was delivered. When the message was delivered through voice mail, respondents indicated that one day was acceptable to get a response; with email, four hours; and with a text message, two minutes. It has been widely argued that we have become addicted to our little electronic boxes.

From personal experience, I do not see much evidence to counter that argument. Sit in a restaurant, walk down the street, watch people in cars (passengers and drivers)- people need that “electronic fix.” It is difficult to simply say “Hello” to many people because when they’re not communicating, they have the ever present earbuds inserted. Whenever I rode the trains, subways, or busses in New York City, I often wondered about the “missed” conversations that I never had with a fellow traveler, conversations that previous generations routinely experienced, because of the self-imposed isolation.

Mobile communications, aside, email has become burdensome. By rough approximation, daily I receive sixty to seventy work-related messages. With an estimated one-minute “read time” and another two-minute “response time,” about three hours of each day is absorbed by email. I expect that my email load is not too different than other management personnel.

I try to break the electronic addiction after hours and on the weekend. I very rarely read or respond to work-related emails during those times. If a critical issue arises, I expect the appropriate elected official or staff to call (or text), rather than compose and send an email. I have recommended to staff that they should similarly refrain from work-related interactions on their time. I have informed City staff that I will not contact them on their time (thereby creating the belief that an immediate reply is required) unless a real emergency is at-hand. I have defined “emergency” to minimally include flames or blood (and Mayor Miller has wisely, and sadly, added drowning to that short list).

I do not “follow” social media, at least in regard to work. It is called “social” media, not “government” media, so my use of Facebook or other applications is strictly limited to social purposes. With no intended offense, I will not “friend” any local officials or residents. The perception created by such “friendships” is that I support or align myself with that person. I’d have to “friend” and “follow” nearly everyone to avoid that perception. And what about the residents who, due to choice, economic, or technological circumstances, do not engage in social media? If we rely on social media for our community discourse, we have, in essence, disenfranchised many. As it is, our “friends,” by the nature of that word alone, often hold beliefs similar to our own. Not only have we electronically isolated ourselves, we have similarly socially isolated ourselves.

No wonder government, especially local government, has become the modern day Colosseum. With instantaneous communications, issues are infinitesimally dissected and twisted to achieve personal goals, and opponents belittled and pilloried. We are all neighbors, and we know each other, which makes it hyper-personal. And, at times, ugly.

As a public official, I am held to a higher standard of transparency under the Florida Sunshine Laws. What if everyone not in public office were held to the same standard? What if “bcc” or discreet distribution lists were made available for anyone to examine?

Communication is essential to our success, but it is critical that we are cognizant of the pitfalls of modern impersonal communication.