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Photo by Ben Schwartz
Bill Podraza
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With an eye toward next year’s budget and beyond, the North Platte City Council met with Mayor Marc Kaschke and City Adminstrator Jim Hawks at the public safety building. Dr. Bill Podraza facilitated the retreat. Podraza is a consultant who has worked with several Nebraska municipalities emphasizing the “10 habits of highly effective governing bodies.” He said that he had worked as an efficiency consultant with various organizations for more than 40 years, but has worked with more city governments in the last decade. He listed Wahoo, Waverly, Stromsburg, David City, Grand Island, and Yankton, So. Dak. as towns that he has held planning sessions with. Beyond his experience as a consultant, Podraza said he served as the Lexington city manager for 13 years. Prior to that he was the assistant city manager in Alliance for five years. Podraza spent the first half of the three-hour session advising the council and administration on their responsibilities to each other and the public. He specifically warned the attendees about confrontations with what he referred to as "not-okay people." "Not-okay people" are not happy with themselves psychologically, Podraza said. They will try to drag "okay people" down to their level by engaging in angry arguments, he warned. He also offered suggestions on how to defuse tense situations at council meetings. After a short break, Podraza asked each of the city representatives to rate on a scale of one to 10 their performance in ten areas he identified as critical to effective government. The five areas that the council and administration identified as their weakest (beginning with the worst) were: • Strategic planning. • Lack of clearly defined roles. • Small group decision-making. • Working well as a team. • Evaluating impact of decisions. Podraza told the Bulletin that the North Platte attendees rated themselves slightly below average on their weakest areas, compared to what he has seen in other cities. He did not find that discouraging, however. “The fact that they asked me to be here indicates they want to be a more effective council,” he said. The council and administration rated themselves stronger in the areas of rules and procedures during meetings and thinking about their constituents needs. Podraza also had the attendees engage in a team-building exercise. He paired them off and instructed them to tell each other, “What I appreciate about you as a council member/mayor is…” and follow it up with, “I could appreciate you as a council member/mayor even more if you…” Podraza said that at the second session the mayor, city administrator, and council will focus on the areas they identified as their weakest, and set goals for the next year. He said he asked each attendee to identify five things they believe will make North Platte the best it can be. He indicated that the list would be prioritized and would serve as a set of goals going forward.
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