The Buck Stops Here

By Jody Dietch, ODTC Chair

We have all heard the phrase, “The buck stops here.” It refers to when a leader takes responsibility for everything that happens under their watch. That means not blaming others or saying, “Well, that’s the building department” or equivalent to deflect responsibility.

In my professional life, I am responsible for what happens even if it is the result of someone who reports to me. That’s called leadership. As leaders, we can’t take credit without also taking responsibility for when things go wrong.

We have been watching our leadership take credit many times over 20 years, but I don’t recall even one time when responsibility was taken when things didn’t go correctly. It’s always someone else’s responsibility. I wonder how the people who work for this town, our friends and neighbors, feel about getting blamed yet rarely getting credit?

Is it easier to sweep things under the rug and hope no one notices? Is the idea that after 20 years of sitting in the chair it has gotten so comfy that there isn’t a sense of transparency and responsibility? At a recent meeting, Selectman Mitch Goldblatt called out the “old boys’ network” within the Board of Selectmen. Not one other member disputed it. That was shocking.

We can say everything is going great in Orange until we look deeper and see what isn’t getting done. Grants are not applied for, reports are not presented to the Board of Selectmen, expensive studies are paid for and never acted on and we’re not learning from the mistakes of others.

Did you know that Orange has no human resources department? There are no trained HR professionals. That’s how Bethany used to be, until an extremely serious sexual assault of children forced them to hire an HR manager. Are we waiting for our own serious issue before we hire an HR professional? It happened in Bethany and can happen here.

We have approximately 150 town employees, not including Board of Education members. I can’t think of a business with that many employees that doesn’t have an HR department. It is very concerning that our leadership hasn’t seen the necessity for an HR department. Is having control over who gets hired (and why) more important than protecting our community? Is it who you know, not what you know?

Why is it when leadership does get challenged or questioned, the response is to yell and point fingers? I have watched this many times during Board of Selectmen meetings over the years. When you enter politics, you are now a politician. As an elected official, you can’t choose when you are a representative and when you aren’t. You are always “on duty.” You can’t tell a constituent, “I don’t talk town business at the farmer’s market.” Everyone who runs for office knows this. We run to serve, not to collect a six-figure salary. If that’s the only reason someone runs, they are in the wrong business.

So I will ask: the buck stops where?

This article originally appeared in the Milford-Orange Times, September 4.