What direction do you want your community to take?
The question is prompted by Jefferson City Mayor Eric Struemph's announcement Thursday that he will not seek re-election.
His decision to step aside follows the recent announcement by Jefferson City Public School Superintendent Brian Mitchell that he will retire at the end of this school year. And the mayor's disclosure comes less than two weeks before Cole County voters will elect a new presiding commissioner.
Regardless of how we perceive existing community leadership, vacancies in key elected and appointed positions provide an opportunity to contemplate the future direction of our community.
The consensus response is we want "growth" and "progress," but when specific developments and changes are proposed, consensus may crumble.
We are reminded of remarks by Bill Daggett, an educator who addressed community and school personnel earlier this month. He reported that although Missouri schools consistently are rated as "good," no Missouri schools among 47,000 schools surveyed nationwide emerged among the 75 "best."
"Good," Daggett told audiences, "often is the enemy of best."
That is a concept for community residents to ponder.
We believe city and county government, and public education, all qualify as good. But good, by definition, means improvement is possible.
Timely questions to consider are:
• Have we, as a community, become complacent? Is "good" satisfactory?
• If we want change, do we favor incremental or wholesale change?
• What leadership qualities will help bring about the change we desire?
We follow Merriam-Webster's definition of consensus as "general agreement" or "group solidarity" - which differs from the rarely attainable unanimity.
Change is inevitable. In response to declining revenues, Jefferson City officials favor change in the form of increased economic development as an alternative to other changes, increased taxes or decreased services.
Change is coming to community leadership. You can do nothing or you can be a catalyst for and director of the change you prefer.
Now is not too soon to think about the community's future direction.