Leadership requires the ability to listen to diverse opinions
To the Editor:
When I was a kid, I joined the Boys Scouts. In time, I became a patrol leader and the scoutmasters told us that we had to develop something called “ leadership.”
At the time, I naively thought this meant you got to tell the people in your group what to do and they had to do it. As I matured, I slowly came to understand that “leadership” was far more nuanced.
In essence, leadership requires the ability to listen to diverse opinions, to value those opinions even if different from your own, and then to meld those various divergent opinions into a forward-moving agenda that all members of the group are motivated to embrace and act on. No small task and few possess such qualities in abundance although most of us limp toward such a goal as best we can.
The recent Berne Town Board meeting on Dec. 9 illustrates this point perfectly.
With the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, the Republican-backed majority town board has struggled to allow meaningful public comment at board meetings. Zoom has helped but it is cumbersome and easily manipulated if you don’t particularly want to hear what the public has to say.
Over the course of the last several months, public-comment periods at town board meetings have been overwhelmingly negative regarding the various ham-handed attempts by this town board to carry out whatever mysterious agenda this board seems to have.
To ensure the continuance of public participation in town governance, a motion was made at the Dec. 9 town board meeting to allow public comment at all town board meetings. The motion was made by Republican-backed board member Bonnie Conklin.
The town board voted, 3 to 2, against allowing such public comment. Conklin and the board’s sole Democrat, Joel Willsey, voted in favor of the motion. This is the Republican-backed board that campaigned on openness and transparency!
“Leadership” indeed! Anybody have a spare Boy Scout manual they could loan this board?
Lawrence Zimmerman
East Berne
Editor’s note: Lawrence Zimmerman is a member of the Berne Planning Board.