Succession planning helps Linden prepare for the future

Linden, its town and leaders, are being complimented this week with the release of the Texas Municipal League's Texas Town & City magazine for July.

There, on pages 34-35, is the suggestion from a small Northeast Texas town that other towns across the state might develop the best practice tactic of succession planning.

Succession planning, described by the magazine article's author and Linden City Manager Lee Elliott, is "the process of preparing employees to assume new roles in the organization when the roles become available."

The key word here is "employees." Their preparation is also key.

The organization knows it needs succession because in municipal government, services must and will go on. There is no shutting down the city. But succession planning prepares for this eventuality, especially in a small town.

Here are several examples that Elliott lists to focus on Linden's approach over the past two years since Elliott became city manager.

Police

At the moment, Linden has the only fully staffed local law enforcement agency in the county. All five full-time positions are filled. The department has a chief and a sergeant and is generating a lieutenant's position for the current sergeant to move into.

"Thus, the sergeant position will be open, but we don't have a lot of money to offer an upcoming sergeant, so we will provide opportunities for higher management experience and mentoring in place of money," Elliott explains.

An important part here is providing titles for career advancement, he said.

Public Works

"When I arrived, we had public works director but no mid-level management person in the department. In the public works director's absence, the city manager had the responsibility. That was me. Is that a good way to run the department? No, not good."

The town's first move was to create a public works foreman position. Then, the town generated a street manager position, which also oversees the park. This parks and street person identified a subordinate who had an interest in parks.

"We mentored him, so when the street manager left after two years, we had a replacement in the parks person who also knew something of streets, water and sewer."

Utility Department as Customer Service

"Take the utility person and make them a customer service representative," Elliott begins.

The employee in the utility department has a difficult time to both understand the system and deal with the public. So generate a part-time position to learn these tasks. Let them take over in the event of vacations and sick leave.

"We make this a flexible position. Let them work a few hours each month. Overall, we give everyone educational advances, time and money. We bring experts here to train our employees here for executive level. Let the experienced assistant be the employee ready to take over."

Further, at any interview for hiring in the department, let the person also be interviewed for their ability to move up. Let mentoring be done for all staff to engender the possibility for advancement. A family environment is created that way.

Final Point

"When small cities especially try to be the best, they need a plan for succession. A caring environment.

"Having worked at the executive level in city government for 23 years, I have seen that the majority of towns and cities do not have a succession plan. There is no reason not to. If a town the size of Linden can, you can, too," Elliot said.