Some of Great Bend’s city council members lack a filter. This lack was on display Monday night at the Great Bend City Council meeting following the reading of an apology by Great Bend Public Library Director Harry Willems. He apologized for stating conclusions about the 2017 budget to his board at a meeting covered by the Great Bend Tribune, which were based on incorrect information.
When Willems interpreted the city’s allocation to the library to mean a cut in $40,000, he should have gone straight to the source and asked why. He didn’t, and that led to an embarrassing situation. Happily for the library, it turned out there was no cut to the budget after all, and Willems did the right thing, offering an apology to the city and to his board, both via email, and publicly through a submitted letter to the Great Bend Tribune.
Great Bend City Administrator Howard Partington was gracious, stating “In the spirit of the season, let’s just move forward and do what’s best for the city.” It wasn’t exactly forgiveness, but close.
And it was a far more forgiving response than council member Brock McPherson’s. Perhaps he has taken his cue from the 2016 presidential election, and considers statements like “I think his apology sucks,” as appropriate for public consumption. But it does little to encourage civil dialogue, something that is clearly lacking between the city and the library.
Dana Dawson’s suggestion that perhaps the library funding should be reduced is reactive. Great Bend has much to be proud of when it comes to our library, and reducing its funding in order to punish an individual for a mistake that amounted to no more than egg on his face is not what’s best for the city.
Mayor Mike Allison appoints the board that hires Willems, as he stated in his response to McPherson and other council members. That board unanimously asked Willems to stay in his position for the entirety of 2017, rather than retire halfway through the year. They did it because they felt his experience is valuable and needed as replacements for other positions are sought in the coming year.
This is a season of offering olive branches and building bridges. Partington showed good leadership in his decision not to dwell publicly on the issue.