Up & Coming Weekly

November 25, 2014

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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4 NOV. 26 - DEC. 2, 2014 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM City managers are a unique group. They are all Type A personalities. They all have a need to control what's going on around them, and, if they are smart, they should all learn how to play nice. That's probably where most of them fail. I must disclose that at my first newspaper job, I worked in a town where the mayor was known for taking young town managers, fresh out of school, and developing them into some of the best city managers in the state. Just out of school myself and covering the city beat, it shouldn't come as a surprise that most of those young managers were close friends of mine. After leaving my hometown, they went around the state to places like Woodfin, Wrightsville Beach, Mount Airy, Apex, Mooresville, Fletcher and Laurinburg. These guys are still my friends today. Together, we learned our craft even though it was sometimes painful because my job often required me to hold them accountable. So, I have a basis for what I am about to share, because I saw all of these young managers learn these lessons, sometimes the hard way. With apologies to Robert Fulghum, here are the things that city managers should have learned in kindergarten: 1. Sticks and stones can break your bones but commentaries can never hurt you. That is unless you take it personally and react in a less than professional manner. You are in the public eye. Like a journalist, at any given time, a third of the people are going to like you, a third are going to hate you and a third just won't care. You can't let words goad you into acting in an irresponsible manner. When you do, you lose. 2. Unlike your sandbox, in the real world, you can't take your ball and go home. If someone does something that upsets you, you can't, as a public administrator, decide that the person or agency just can't play. You don't have that option. That would be like a city administrator cutting off water to a town because they didn't like what the city leaders did or said. You have to play nice, even when others aren't so nice. 3. Bullies will eventually meet their match. When you are the big kid on the playground and you think you hold all the cards, you have to remember that somewhere a little kid, who has had to fight long and hard just to be on the playground, is going to get tired of being bullied. That kid is going to be smarter, tougher and a lot meaner than you are. And when you meet that kid, your best bet is to leave them alone. 4. Honesty is always the best policy. In this electronic age everything you say, type, text and email can and will be held against you. Think no one can find your emails? Lois Lerner just learned differently. So don't say or do anything that you need to hide and if you do something dumb, own up to it. People are more forgiving when you admit to an honest mistake than when you prevaricate. And finally, this is the first lesson that the mayor taught his young city managers. 5. Never get into a fight with someone who buys their paper by the train load and their ink by the barrelful. You are going to lose because they are always, always going to have the last word! High 66º Low 51º Partly Cloudy STAFF Calendar ......................................14 Concert Connection ...................20 Free Wheelin' Feelin' ..................22 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ....23 Classifieds ...................................24 Games .........................................26 INSIDE PUBLISHER'S PEN High 54° Low 30° Partly Cloudy 7 Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Monday December 1 Tuesday December 2 High 49° Low 31° Sunny 24 / Thursday November 27 High 59° Low 45° Mostly Sunny High 65° Low 45° Sunny High 62º Low 44º Cloudy Friday November 28 Saturday November 29 Sunday November 30 Fayetteville's Weather Forecast PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Janice Burton editor@upandcomingweekly.com EDITOR Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly. com ART DIRECTOR Alicia Miller art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Erinn Crider, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Heather Griffiths DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/ OFFICE COORDINATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Aurora Alexander aurora@upandcomingweekly.com Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com Beverly Pone beverlypone@upandcomingweekly. com ––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan Street P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: (910) 484-6200 FAX: (910) 484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publish- er. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor loca- tions throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. Subscriptions can be purchased for $30 for six months or $60 for 12 months, delivered weekly by first class mail. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Everything a City Manager Should Know, He Should Have Learned in Kindergarten by JANICE BURTON JANICE BURTON, Associate Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COM- MENTS? editor@upandcomingweekly.

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