ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” story. It is an editorial by the editor.
The recen
t news about the Belding Library trying to lure Natalie Bazan away from Hopkins and Dorr libraries and the departure next week of Wayland City Manager Mike Selden demonstrate a trend too many of us don’t understand.
Finding and keeping quality professional services is difficult for small communities. We now live in a much more mobile society and though we’re often told the principles of the free market should be followed, we somehow expect a professional administrator to forego salary and benefit increases to stay in our friendly little communities.
It’s not easy to find people well trained in their fields to provide a Wayland, Hopkins or a Dorr with professional expertise.
Selden is leaving next week after three and a half years of service. He’s moving on up, and what should we have expected?
Plan Commission Chairman J.D. Gonzales quipped Tuesday night that he’s seen more different city managers than mayors during his tenure. Indeed, I’ve been told the average tenure of city managers and their ilk is about five years.
Wayland had an unusual situation last year with the Henika District Library in that only four people served as its director over 98 years. Yet when Lynn Mandaville retired after 29 years in 2014, she was succeeded by a young woman who was gone after seven months. Another youngster from outside the community has taken over since, but if she does a terrific job, how long will she last before someone else lures her away?
Then there’s Natalie Bazan. She may have decided to decline Belding’s tantalizing offers, but for how long can the libraries of Dorr and Hopkins keep her? She doesn’t make the big bucks here and her health care benefits are less than adequate.
If Bazan decides to take up that banner of free market principles, she will leave us for greener pastures just as fast as a free agent professional player would for another ballclub.
Some folks bemoan a lack of loyalty from professionals hired from the outside. Some insist all these people who work here should live here. Then when they have to move for a better job and higher pay, they have to turn around and sell the house they bought here.
Some haven’t been kind to Selden because he didn’t move into the community. Some incorrectly suggested he was unfairly getting gas mileage reimbursements from the city.
Some have asserted that Superintendent Norm Taylor doesn’t live in this community. He does so.
Are we xenophobic?
Our society continues to change, for better or worse, but sometimes we collectively fail to pay attention to the principles of Robert Putnam’s book, “Bowling Alone” to understand why it’s so tough to keep good help and why it’s even so tough to organize a two-person parade.
So while we bid adieu to Selden, don’t be surprised if eventually Bazan gets a better deal and rides off into the sunset.
And while these people are here, if they’re good at what they do, let’s keep them for as long as possible by treating them well. It’s about all we can do.
