When we elect municipal officials, we entrust them to make informed decisions about issues of consequence to our community. The key word in that sentence is “informed.”
Leadership requires more than siding with constituents who lobby one side or the other on an issue, because those constituents may be working without adequate or correct information. Worse, they may have an unstated personal interest in the outcome. Leadership entails research and education — the public official taking the time to research the issue and its potential benefits and detriments to the community, then helping educate constituents on the issue’s merits.
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