Doing the RIGHT THING vs Doing THINGS RIGHT...

What is it about public agencies that makes so many of them apparently inept at managing customer / constituent services, especially their parks, recreation, and marina operations?

I have worked in both the public and the private sectors of the outdoor recreation and harbor / marina industries for more than twenty years, and it is still mind-boggling when I see public entities spending millions of deficit dollars with mediocre and sometimes disastrous results. Of course, that’s primarily a public sector malady because private sector enterprises would soon be out of business if they conducted themselves the same way.

Several weeks ago, a San Francisco Bay newspaper ran an ebullient article about the Gay-Jewish-Filipino President of an area Harbor District Board of Directors (I mention the ethnic-religious-sexuality context only because that was the primary focus of the article). It was a wonderful, fluffy, political biography . . . and I liked the protagonist. Not a word was mentioned about the fact that the District operates with a four million dollar annual deficit, the marinas are in terrible condition, their environmental compliance is embarrassing, and the County Grand Jury recently recommended that the District be dissolved because of its “dysfunctional and incompetent management” (their words, not mine).

I used to rant about the incompetency of these failed organizations also. And then a colleague of mine pointed out, “It’s not that they don’t know how to manage, it’s that they don’t know what to manage.” It’s the difference between doing things right versus doing the right things.

This would just be a sad situation if it wasn’t so typical. For example: The Port of Stockton, who spent millions to build container barges that will never be used; and the City of Stockton who borrowed twenty-one million dollars to build a ten million dollar marina that has achieved less-than thirty percent of projected annual revenues over the past six years, and will probably never pay back their loans (on which, their annual debt service alone is more than gross revenues). The City just emerged from bankruptcy with the marinas still under their management, and still hemorrhaging money. Needless to say, their facilities and services are far below par. In the process of allocating public resources, these public entities not only ignored the interests of the market, but also the best interests of their constituents.

Obviously, there’s a tremendous lack of industry knowledge and leadership involved — or not involved — in these failing endeavors, but not always. Mostly, these organizations — and I use the term loosely — are so driven by bureaucracy that it prevents them from making smart and necessary management decisions. They are so engulfed in politics that they can’t focus on the real needs of their constituents. The Stockton Marina, for example again, might have had a chance if they had built adequate restrooms, a fuel dock, and other amenities . . . What they built instead was a boat storage yard on the water. It’s an interesting irony that if they had focused on the business of optimizing customer and stakeholder satisfaction, then they probably wouldn’t have to worry today about politics.

The private sector has typically recognized that customer desires drive their objectives and determine their success. Without satisfied customers they’re out of business. The public sector has managed to survive without that accountability, failing — without consequence usually — because they lack the creativity and will to change the status quo. But with tight budgets and fewer options for gift-horse funding, many public service agencies are finding themselves more susceptible to constituent driven forces.

Those corporate and public entities that are prospering today have two things in common:  they recognize the need for new approaches to solve long-standing problems, and they have taken the lead to employ a little destructive creativity to manage the evolution of broken processes and policies. What appear to be insurmountable political problems at many public entities, could be effectively resolved by shifting leadership’s focus to meet real customer-driven needs — develop realistic goals, employ sound business practices, focus on solutions and results (not problems), and politics will be diminished by success. . . They’ll have to find new ways to do things, but it’s the right thing to do.

Writer's Bio...        James “J” Mills is a past Director of Parks & Recreation for a Central California public utility agency, with more than 30 years of leadership experience in the public and private sectors directing, developing, and consulting in the hospitality, outdoor recreation, and marina industries. J is also a published writer and author and has had essays, stories, and articles published in Sea Magazine, Latitude 38, The Log, Georgetown News-Graphic, The MacGuffin, and Eclectica Magazine, and a series of monthly columns in Park & Recreation Trades Magazine. Some of his published work can be read at his portfolio website https://jamesmills.contently.com. He has been a featured speaker and seminar presenter at the California Association of Harbor Masters & Port Captains Annual Conference, the Marina Recreation Association Annual Conference, and at numerous state and municipal agency meetings. He is currently the Editor of the Bay & Delta Yachtsman magazine, and is writing a novel and a collection of short stories. J can be contacted at [email protected] and https://linkedin.com/in/jamesmcv.