When this editorial appears in print, the votes will be tallied and the results will be, largely, decided in our local communities.
To those who have claimed or retained their offices in municipalities around St. Clair County, we say congratulations. We also say, it is time to go to work.
Our staff has, in the past, remarked on the nature of the job that is before anyone who would assume a public office. Occupying that office is work, hard work, and should not be entered into lightly.
Part of what has made St. Clair County succeed over the past decade has been its leaders. Specifically, those leaders’ continued willingness to work together.
Not everyone will agree with this viewpoint — in fact, some residents in every municipality will complain loudly each time their government officials engage in cooperative actions with officials from other cities, or the county or the state. “We need to take care of our community,” they will say.
That type of thinking is well intentioned. But it is regressive. St. Clair County is at its best when it operates not as individual districts, neighborhoods or even municipalities, but as one, with the understanding that what is good for one area is also good for the whole.
Programs like the St. Clair County Mayor’s Association and Leadership St. Clair help bring community leaders together, and aid in countywide cooperation. We encourage every leader to participate in these meetings and these conversations, to help push us forward.
An old saying holds that a rising tide lifts all boats. If St. Clair County is to continue rising, it needs all its leaders pulling in the same direction.
