Poulsbo City Council: The Value of Institutional Knowledge
 
Last month I wrote a column for the Chamber of Commerce about being a new council person. My experiences since election have been bumpy but rewarding as I have been learning the ropes in a new world.
 
But fairness makes me respond to a different perspective: the value of institutional knowledge. Everyone at one point in their lives has started a new job and run into institutional knowledge. Those that are wise understand the value of that knowledge and respect it. Whenever I have start a new job as a manager, I always vow to never change anything for a period of time to fully understand why things are done in certain ways. Depending on the condition of the business that period of time can be anywhere from 3 months to a year. Business systems that been developed over time work in certain ways for a reason. The reason is that they have been successful. Patterns are established. People understand one another. Processes flow forward to a successful end. These are concepts that create success. If they did not, the business would not have survived. So anyone that is new needs to take time to understand each piece and the value that these pieces bring to the enterprise as a whole.
 
What does institutional knowledge mean in local city government?
 
First is complexity. A demonstration of this complexity is the blizzard of acronyms: LID (local improvement district) verses LID (low impact development). PUD (public utility district) verses PUD (planned unit development). Or the following: KRCC, KCCHA, PSRC, STP, TIP, CIP, GMA, PMC, NPDES, UGA, CP, KPUD, CFP, PRD, ADU, RMA, CAO, RCW, SEPA, NEPA, NKSD, RL, RM, RH, OFM, CTED, CPSGMHB, WDFW, WAC, GIS, KCHD, DOE, WSDOT, PFD, TDM. There are many more. They all need to be learned, understood, and absorbed into the context of city government. Each one has a very specific meaning that could have a profound impact on each council member's decision making process. This is symptomatic of the complexity of the institutional knowledge of local government. Local government has a language all to itself. The concepts are very complicated and greatly impact how people live in Poulsbo. Mayor Quade has a policy: no acronyms without explanation. It is a good policy for the public to understand the conversation of government. It is a demonstration of the complexity of institutional knowledge that each council person is required to know to function successfully.
 
Second is the history. Institutional knowledge is reflected in our current problems and solutions. On February 24th, the City Council (the CC) had a joint meeting with Planning Commission (the PC) discussing the draft comprehensive plan (the CP). How has our capital planning changed over time? Jeff McGinty and Ed Stern talked at length about how things were, what was learned from past policy, and why we are here today. They set the framework for our discussion as we talked about future policy. Why we are here today is the sum of the collective decisions made by past councils. Most of those decisions were good and have shaped Poulsbo into the community that we love. Some have missed the mark, and are being reshaped by the current Council, using the lens of institutional knowledge to guide the decision making process.
 
Third is conservatism. Always understand past decisions before proceeding forward to the new. Why waste the time, energy, or effort to repeat mistakes? Why not capture the benefit of good ideas used before to solve current problems? The citizens of Poulsbo expect the City Council to act prudently, deliberately and conservatively as we manage city business. That does not mean that we should ignore institutional knowledge but to expand on our past decisions as we explore new ideas. It also does not mean we routinely stay the course just because the past has functioned in a specific manner. The new and the old must come together to pick the best course and shape our vision of the future.
 
So when we talk about the UGA, ADU's, PRD's in the CP, we all have a common framework of institutional knowledge to guide new ideas. The dictionary is located in City Hall. Come and be involved in our process.