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Omaha’s Future Depends on Leadership, not Commissions

Omaha taxpayers are angry and frustrated. They feel taken advantage of when they hear fire and police officials retire at a very young age with large pension checks. In a March 13^th editorial, Paul Landow and Carol Ebdon suggested ways Omaha, with citizens working together, might find solutions to this problem. I applaud their efforts, and the questions they posed are good ones.

 However, those questions should have been asked when Mr. Landow was chief of staff for the mayor in 2003. Omahans cannot understand why Mr. Landow and the mayor were willing to enter into new labor contracts (beginning in 2004) that dropped the retirement age to 45 and increased pension payouts from 55% to 75%. This was a colossal mistake. The agony we are experiencing right now is directly related to that decision resulting in huge pension losses and six Police Chiefs in ten years.

 Mr. Landow and the mayor should have tested the contract changes against labor agreements of other cities to see if these changes were common and reasonable. We did not get that kind of leadership then, and that kind of leadership is what Omaha needs now.

 We do not need a commission. We do not need another committee. What we need is a mayor and a city council who will lead this city in the manner its citizens deserve.

The mayor, as our leader, can organize his staff to provide research. He can arrange for knowledgeable specialists to study and analyze current labor agreements, and determine what is needed to  increase  longevity and establish more reasonable pension packages.

 The mayor can travel to other cities and visit with mayors who have solved some of these problems. He can do the necessary research to import best practices and then carefully craft a sound “new” strategy, based on facts, to move the city forward. With this accurate intelligence and sound reasoning he can approach union leaders and ask for reasonable concessions to stop the retirement madness in the police and fire departments.  Call it Plan A.

 If union leaders refuse to modify the contracts and bring them back within reason, the mayor must develop a “Plan B.” Plan B might employ cost cutting measures used by other mayors in other cities to substantially lower department costs, while maintaining and actually improving public safety. Some of these measures could include privatization, greater use of civilian positions, merger or consolidation with the county, expansion of shared services models and better use of new technologies.

 Cost cutting is incredibly important because these labor contracts are preventing Omaha from investing in our future.  A good example is we collect $31 million through hotel, logging, restaurant and rental car taxes, but only $600,000 is invested back into the  very industries those taxes are supposed to fund and promote.  This is way below the 50% average that other cities reinvest to promote their markets. 

 Since Omaha is spending that money elsewhere, we are unable to launch new economic development strategies to help Omaha expand and make us an amazing destination city, with shops, entertainment and transportation systems that inspire visitors to spend a few days here.

 We cannot move Omaha forward and embrace the next level of transformation as long as we lack the leadership to remodel government and find ways to operate more efficiently. We need a new crew of leaders to step up and lead Omaha, not a commission or committee to admire the problem. We don’t need another group of people who can only make suggestions and can’t or won’t take responsibility for  remodeling our city.

 If we don’t make changes soon, Omaha will be starved by labor agreements that choke the life and vibrancy out of our city. If that happens, we will not look any better in 20 years and there’s a good chance we will look even worse. 

 Omaha has the potential of becoming one of the brightest spots in the nation, a key destination city for conventions, sports and entertainment. However, to make that happen, we must transform our city government.  Instead of a “commission”, we need to elect reform-minded candidates in 2013 to the mayor’s office and city council, who show the leadership necessary to embrace this exciting future.

 We have the potential to be that vibrant and exciting destination city and the time is now, to begin setting a higher bar for what we expect from our leaders.