Back when I was starting non-profits for a living, we discovered that two things were critical for success. First, we had to have the right leader. We looked for visionary people who were intrinsically motivated and had a high EQ, enabling them to get others to buy into their vision. When you think of visionary leaders, think of Martin Luther King Jr. on the Washington Mall imploring, “I Have a Dream,” or Ronald Reagan’s, “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down that Wall!”

Good governance was the second key to success. People understood the importance of visionary leaders, but they often did not recognize the importance of good governance.

Good governance is a board that knows its job and sticks to it, and a staff that knows its job and sticks to it. The board’s job is figuring out what big issues need to be addressed. The staff’s job is to complete them. The primary conduit between the two is the board chair and the CEO. The CEO is held responsible by the board for completion of the tasks that have been assigned. It may not sound exciting, but it’s how stuff gets done. Everybody knows their lane and stays in it.

When I used to chair boards, and over the years I’ve chaired a boatload of them, the most important words I would say early in the life of board would be, “Not our job, that’s a staff job,” or “Not a staff job, that’s our job.” Clearly delineated responsibilities make for good governance.

As most of you know, I am running for Mayor of Lyons, Colorado in the April 7 election. I serve as Mayor Pro Tem now (vice-mayor for those of you outside of Colorado) and have served on the town Board of Trustrees for four years.

To put good governance into perspective for Lyons, Colorado, the board is our Board of Trustees; the Mayor is its chair. The board’s job is to figure out what big issues need to be addressed, like infrastructure, wildfire mitigation, economic vitality, and maintaining our quality of life. The CEO is the Town Administrator. The board works through the administrator to get the tasks done.

Staff members are responsible to the administrator, not to the board. The board does not bypass the administrator to direct the work of the staff. They do hold the administrator responsibile for adequately directing the staff. It’s not rocket science, but if you have not worked on many boards, board members can have a tendency to get down into the weeds. That’s not the board’s job. That’s the staff’s job.

Hollie Rogin has been a great mayor. I wish she were in a position to continue, but she is not. To the voters of Lyons I say, if you want that kind of governance to continue here, then vote for me. I will lead with civility, trust, a collaborative spirit, and good governance.

To my readers from around the nation and world, yep, you guessed it. I’ll be writing a few posts about the election over the next six weeks. You’ll see election-related information here when I believe the message of the post is helpful to all. Thank you for accommodating that short-term shift in this blog.

And so it goes.

The awful realities on the ground in Minneapolis have made me search for additional ways in which I can personally make a difference. I have the greatest respect for the dissidents in Minneapolis who are disrupting the incivility they encounter. I have great admiration for the hundreds of people who gather in “the triangle” in the middle of Lyons, Colorado every Saturday to protest what is happening in the Trump administration. We all must do what we can.

Four years ago I ran for public office for the first time in my life. I was already older than dirt and had been on Medicare long enough to forget how expensive health insurance is, but I figured you’re never too old to start something new.

My first two years as a member of the Board of Trustees of Lyons, Colorado were humbling. I knew non-profit leadership. I had run one for over a quarter of a century. I knew education. I had taught as an adjunct at four universities. I knew corporate America, having served on the board of a national television network and two subsidiaries of a Fortune 500 company. But government was altogether different. I didn’t know an ordinance from a resolution or why Colorado’s Tabor law caused seasoned politicians to break into tears at its mere mention.

By the end of my first term I was beginning to figure out what I was doing, the key word being “beginning.” Not wanting to waste all of that learning, I ran again. In my second term I have also had the privilege of serving as Mayor Pro Tem. (For those of you outside of Colorado, that is basically vice-mayor.) Today I want to announce that I am running for mayor.

In 2021 it was my privilege to be one of the speakers for the Inaugural Prayer Service of President Joe Biden, and for the next two years to serve with members of his faith-based initiatives team. As fulfilling as those national opportunities were, I believe democratic service is most effective at the local non-partisan level, particularly in these turbulent times. I have not been able to do much to change the narrative in Washington, DC, but I have been able to make a difference in this precious and vulnerable Colorado town in which I live.

I believe that civility, trust, collaboration and good governance are all keys to healthy local government. I am a proponent of Carver Policy Governance, in which it is the board’s responsibility to figure out which big rocks are to be moved (the ends of the organization) and the CEO’s job to lead the staff in moving them (the means of the corporation.) My experience is that if you have a competent CEO who is trusted and treated with respect, they will do exactly what you empower them to do – move the big rocks. Our Town Administrator is one of the best. It’s been a pleasure to work with her for the past four years.

I believe healthy collaboration between mayor, board, staff, business owners, town residents, and state and federal officials is important to good government. Most of us get a job because of our qualifications. We advance in that job because we learn how to get people to work together for the common good.

I have great respect for my opponent. For the past two years I have served with him on the Board of Trustees. He passionately cares about Lyons. Most of the time we agree on the important issues facing our town, like wildfire mitigation and infrastructure. But we do have different approaches about how to get that done. I believe my approach, proven over three decades of non-profit leadership in New York and two years as Mayor Pro Tem, is what is needed to get the job done now.

Our current mayor, Hollie Rogin has been one of the best leaders with whom I have ever worked. We are going to miss her, but she is supporting me wholeheartedly in this election, and will continue to do so after I have been elected.

Why am I telling you all of this? Most of you do not live in Colorado, let alone reside here in Lyons. I am telling you because I think this is the moment in which all of us have to find a way to change the narrative in this nation. It’s clearly not going to happen from the top down, so we’d all better get started making it happen from the ground up. As for me, that means I wholeheartedly declare myself as a candidate for mayor of Lyons, Colorado.

If you’d like to give to my campaign, reach out to me at paula@rltpathways.com and I’ll let you know how you can contribute.