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How Ferguson, Mo., compares to WB
by Matt Muckler, City Administrator · Op-Ed · August 22, 2014


In May of 1999, there was a strong sense of promise and hope in my life. My wife and I were expecting our first child and moving into our first home in Ferguson, Mo.


Ferguson was a city on the rebound with a nice mix of people, and we loved our neighborhood. We looked forward to fixing up our nearly 100-year-old house, which would become the first home for three of our children.

I first had contact with “the City” when I called my councilman to talk to him about cars speeding on my street. I agreed to serve on the Ferguson TIF Commission and later ran for elected office myself. I talked to a lot of people about what they wanted from their local and state governments and made a lot of friends along the way, both white and African-American.

I was saddened to hear of the death of Michael Brown, who was killed about two miles from my old house in Ferguson. I would like to offer a few reflections from a local government management perspective on how recent events in Ferguson might be relevant to West Branch:

• Every employee of the city, myself included, needs to be accountable.

For a police officer in West Branch, that means each police officer is accountable to the police chief, who is accountable to the city administrator, who is accountable to the Mayor and City Council, who are accountable to the residents of West Branch. Everyone in that chain should take ownership for our Police Department’s successes and failures.

• The community and the City Council should provide policy direction to the Police Department. The Mayor and city administrator should hold the Police Department accountable for implementing those policies. Community policing has to be a priority. Police officers should also receive ongoing training on traditional law enforcement duties.

• If it wasn’t already, the trend of local police forces equipping themselves like military units is now officially in question. While West Branch has never considered the acquisition of a military surplus vehicle, it is clear that image and approach does matter. We should maintain a fleet of vehicles that have a subdued appearance, and have officers wear bullet proof vests under their uniforms, rather than military-style flak jackets.

Officers should seek to de-escalate situations whenever possible.

• Our City Council should continue to provide competitive salaries to our police officers in an effort to attract and retain high-quality officers.

Our elected officials also need to provide direction to city staff to ensure that we hire police officers with skills and traits that our community values most.

• Having a city government that is open and transparent to its residents and the press is essential.

In West Branch, we have been successful in building a cohesive public safety team, both Police and Fire, who are truly here to serve our community.

Residents supported a local option sales tax for the Fire Department expansion, and the City Council has provided increased funding for safety equipment and vehicles. I am proud of the great work that the Fire Department does in responding to a tremendous amount of calls, and I am especially grateful to our volunteer firefighters for keeping us safe during flooding this summer.

I am also proud of our Police Department for working so well with our schools, our citizens, and our local business owners, and in doing the extraordinary - finding Baby Kayden. They not only provide a high level of traditional law enforcement services, but they also get out of their vehicles and are present on Main Street and at local events. They treat people with respect. They live and volunteer in our community. Both Departments are accountable to the people they serve and we are lucky to have them.

I applaud the citizens of West Branch for taking an interest in their local government. As a community, we have a lot to be thankful for, most notably a very bright future, where the people who are engaged can have a profound, positive effect in modernizing the infrastructure of our City and bringing quality-of-life services to our residents.

And at the end of the day, we need to realize that each and every one of us are “the City.”