Published: October 19, 2009 08:46 pm      

CURRAN: Why don’t you just ask?

I assume much of the tension between some local city officials and members of the Clark-Floyd Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau stems from problematic assumptions. An assumption is an understanding one has when information is imperfect.

In many cases, acting on an assumption is the best someone can do in a situation for which it’s not possible to collect all relevant information. In making a budget, for example, it may be necessary to make assumptions about expenses, say, assume they’ll be comparable to last year’s, when there’s no good way to know what the true costs will be.

Assumptions can cause problems though. This tends to be the case under two conditions. One condition is when we don’t acknowledge we’re making an assumption and instead believe and represent our understanding as fact-based. In the budgeting example, if we pretend costs will exactly mimic last year’s and leave no wiggle room in our allotment of resources, we may very well come up short.

The other condition under which assumptions cause problems is when we choose to continue with assumptions even when better information is available. We may be too stubborn or lazy to seek out that better information. Sometimes, if we want to know something, all we have to do is ask. That’s what I’m assuming didn’t happen in the case of the bullied board.

I’ll assume readers are familiar with this story. A few weeks ago, an unusual number of city pols including the mayors of Jeffersonville and New Albany attended a meeting of the tourism board with the assumption the bureau’s executive director, long-serving Jim Keith, would be shown the door. I’m assuming they assumed this because they’d lobbied board members they’d appointed, and one of those members had discussed retirement with Keith.

However, the board’s executive committee instead offered Keith an employment contract, something he hadn’t had previously — he probably wrongly assumed he didn’t need one — and a majority of the board went with the executive committee.

“This is not over,“ Jeffersonville Mayor Tom Galligan told an area media outlet after the meeting. The spectacle led locals to make their own assumptions about the administrations’ new enthusiastic interest in the bureau. Many, including a local columnist, assumed the politics were related to the heavy purse strings the bureau holds.

From information in newspaper articles, a letter to the editor from Keith’s wife, columns — including one from the Jeffersonville city spokesman — and online discussion and comments from others involved, I assume something like the following conversation should’ve happened, but never did:

City officials in some formal capacity: “Jim, we’d like you to help us land this downtown convention center and the Cooperstown baseball camp complex, putting the bureau’s resources behind the projects. You in?”

Keith: “Yes, ” or “no.”

City: “This is what we need and expect…”

Keith: “This is what is expect and agree to …”

There is no reference to this conversation in any report. Instead, we hear about what officials “hoped” Keith would do while in New York. This, strangely, was to hang out with the local merchants to “get a feel” for the benefits of the baseball camp project, not pitching anything to the company’s principles, while Keith assumed if officials wanted his participation, he would’ve actually been included in the meetings during which the project was discussed.

I also assume this conversation didn’t occur:

City officials: “Jim, we absolutely respect what you’ve done up until now. That SunnySide thing has really stuck, an outstanding example of branding — which, by the way, is an important concept in marketing, a subject the city assumes Keith is unfamiliar with — but we’re concerned too much emphasis has been placed on Lewis and Clark and would like more support for some other ideas.”

Keith: “Lewis and Clark are still alive, and it would hurt their feelings if we moved on. Not only that, I don’t really care about supporting tourism and convention business in this area. The bureau‘s budget is mine, I tell you, mine.”

Yet, the city’s message, their “bottom line is that Lewis and Clark are dead,” suggests they assume Keith, or we, assume the old explorers to be alive and that Keith isn’t working to promote tourism and conventions.

Instead of indifference, according to Keith’s wife, Linda, Keith was enthusiastic about the baseball project even though he was excluded from discussion about it. The board’s lawyer says the bureau was waiting for a formal proposal, and Keith tells the paper he believes the project is, on it’s surface, a good one.

So what exactly is the problem?

It would be impossible in the space provided to chronicle each problematic assumption that occurred in this drama. The list would start with underlying assumptions about the inherent, obvious value of economic development projects and “progress.”

Not all local residents think bringing more people to town or focusing on new projects when there are old ones needing attention are good ideas. The list goes on to problematic assumptions about age and power. Project supporters hold a common bad assumption: The merit of their position is obvious.

I’ll assume city leaders, deep down, know he-said, she-said assumptions and dramatic hissy fits aren’t the grown-up way to communicate. I’ll assume they’ll make sure they have the votes before trying to bully another board, and I’ll assume if they want someone’s support, they’ll ask for it before trying to oust them.



Jeffersonville resident Kelley Curran assumes readers noticed that she didn’t use the phrase, “Never assume because it makes an …” She assumes you know the rest. Write her at kelinawriterhat@aol.com