Wanted: a Mayor for Barrhead.
Qualities: Applicants must possess leadership skills, be very motivated and energetic, have high ethical standards, boast good written and oral communication skills and be excellent at customer service. A willingness to work outside normal hours is essential.
This is a people job and only those with a burning passion for Barrhead need apply. Do you have a vision for the community? If so, we want to hear from you.
Mayor Brian Schulz’s decision not to run in the October election has left a big vacancy at the heart of local government. It has also provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the candidate with the right qualities.
Being the ceremonial figurehead of Town council, the de facto leader of the community, is a huge honour founded on trust with the electorate.
Until last week, Councillor Dave McKenzie was often talked about as the man most likely to pick up the Mayoral baton. Also mentioned as a possible candidate was Councillor Don Smith.
Both men are veterans of municipal government and have the most important attribute for the job: a love for Barrhead.
Both, however, announced last week that they would not be running for the Mayoralty. In fact, McKenzie said he was pulling out of local politics altogether, blaming an increasingly onerous workload.
While Smith no doubt has aspirations for the top position, he has a full-time job as Barrhead Co-op meat manager. How would he be able to juggle the two responsibilities successfully?
The dilemma puts into focus one of the challenges facing any potential candidate: being Mayor is a full-time responsibility, even if it is not a full-time job.
It involves personal sacrifice, sometimes putting the community before family and friends. It is also a job requiring a stout heart and a thick hide.
It is one where you occasionally have to make tough, unpopular decisions. It is one where you can become a lightning rod for every criticism, however unjustified, for every perceived problem in the area. Often you will take flak for the failings of others.
However, we should not dwell on the downside. As people in public office would surely testify, the privilege of serving the community trumps all negatives.
We should also remember that this is an especially exciting and challenging time for Barrhead. The next Mayor could well oversee the construction of a new aquatic centre, depending on the result of a plebiscite into the project.
In addition, there is the ongoing mission to ensure the town’s economic health by attracting new business – something that should not be done at the expense of the small town, rural qualities that have made Barrhead so appealing. As ever, a balance needs to be struck.
Good leadership is required to continue steering the town in the right direction.
A vision is required. And a strategy for implementing it.
