At the California State Association of Counties’ Annual Conference in Monterey last week, a more positive voice reached the audience of local government officials.
Dr. Chuck Wall addressed the crowd at the conference, relating his “Random Acts of Kindness” program to those who work in local government.
Wall put a different spin on the usual doom and gloom conversations that have shadowed recent conversations of local government.
“One of the things I talked about is the fact that we have a lot of good people doing good work in the counties and they are not getting the recognition that they deserve,” Wall said in an interview.
“We hear a lot about the State of California employees and city employees. But county seems to be lost, and that’s truly where the public comes in contact with its tax dollars.”
Wall earned a Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Marketing Management and is involved in his “Random Acts of Kindness” program, speaking to government agencies, in addition to private companies and individuals.
Wall spoke with enthusiasm regarding all the positives being done at the local level and those who work so hard to serve his or her constituents. He said that in spite of all the negative going, there are still spots of positive that need to be given attention.
“Counties should never overlook the fact that they are making a significant contribution to the quality of life in their area even though they are not getting the recognition deserved.”
He also spoke about burnout and stress among public employees.
“We are overdoing it in terms of our workdays and our workweeks,” Wall said. “We are putting in far more energy to try to solve problems that are often beyond our ability to solve and we’re tearing up ourselves in the process.
“We’ve got to back off and take a look at how we can allocate our time better to recognize that personally you can’t solve the California crisis. You need to protect yourself and at the same time protect your constituents.”
James Spencer can be reached at jspencer@publicceo.com
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