The Spinnaker March 2023

THE SPINNAKER

FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION... OR IS IT?

by Matt Mueller, Town Manager

It has been a sad couple of weeks as I have missed the sweet, smoky smell of BBQ coming from down the street. While the loss of the opportunity to work myself into a meat-induced coma so close to my office has positively affected my wallet and waistline, it has definitely been disappointing.

I say this jokingly, but the closure of this restaurant does sting a little bit Small businesses come and go; in the grand scheme of things, it is one business out of the many we have in the community However, since this was a key recruitment in The Lakefront™ District and there was a lot of excitement and fanfare about it coming to the area, the closure has drawn much attention and disappointment In many ways, this business going away may feel like a failure.

It is never fun when things don’t go according to plan, and no amount of past success can take away the sting when something fails (ask the 2007 New England Patriots who had a perfect season before losing in the Super Bowl). However, failure is an inevitable part of innovation and lofty goals.

In a previous position, I worked with two assistant city managers who approached their strategic plans differently One manager always played it safe setting goals that they knew could be accomplished, therefore always completing the items in their strategic plans

The other manager set goals that were bold and often unattainable The divisions under the first manager always accomplished what they said they would but never really pushed the boundaries and did anything groundbreaking. The divisions under the second manager often failed to check the “completed” box on many of their goals, but their service usually moved forward by leaps and bounds and was driven by innovation.

Was the second manager a failure because they didn’t accomplish all their goals, or were they genuinely successful because they were not satisfied with playing it safe?

Failure is unacceptable due to poor work ethic, lack of attention to detail, or making decisions without our Core Values in mind Still, failure is sometimes inevitable when pursuing stretch goals or innovation to accomplish a defined vision With a commitment to innovation, there must be some risk tolerance and acceptance of failure If we want to achieve our goals, we must keep working toward our vision even when things don’t go according to plan

Both success and failure allow us to learn Success will enable us to analyze what went right and see how we can replicate it Failure allows us to look at what went wrong and take the lessons we learn into the next attempt to do it better.

In the public setting, being risk averse is playing it safe. Detractors and critics love it when things go wrong because it allows them to condemn something they didn’t like.

However, as Theodore Roosevelt said, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat ”

I wholeheartedly believe in Innovation as one of our Core Values Furthermore, we must keep up with the changing needs of our growing community and provide services that meet their needs

Little Elm’s definition of innovation talks about challenging the status quo and trying new things through reasonable risk.

If we truly believe in this (and I do), we can’t just champion innovation and risk-taking when things go right. We must also stay strong and stay the course when things go wrong.

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS EVENT CALENDAR

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHTS

Congrats to these recently promoted members of the Fire Department!

ADAM OLDAKER, CAPTAIN

MITCH BROUSSARD, CAPTAIN

BEN HAYES, DRIVER OPERATOR

CHANCE WEGER, DRIVER OPERATOR

CHRIS THAMATHITIKHUN, DRIVER OPERATOR

GARRETT ROSE, DRIVER OPERATOR

Walking Club: March 13. We are starting a walking club where you can walk with a group of people, feel safe, exercise, enjoy the outdoors, and get Wellness Points on our Little Elm trails! We will meet Monday-Thursday at 1 2:15 p.m. and walk for 30 minutes.

Fitness Assessments: You can get 50 points by emailing Cassie Hoover, the Fitness and Wellness Supervisor, at choover@littleelm org to schedule and complete your fitness assessment

MFC 2023: The Mayor’s Fitness Challenge is coming up This is a great way to get additional Wellness Points

Registration and information is at www littleelmmfc com

NEW classes at The Rec™: We now offer two classes that are included with your membership and taught by Faith Bostick. These classes will start on March 20. You can earn Move It Minutes for attending these classes!!

Rowing: 11–11:45 a.m. on Tuesday/Thursday

Fit with Faith (boot camp style class):

Monday/Wednesday: 5–5:55 p.m. and 6–6:55 p.m.

Tuesday/Thursday: noon–12:55 p.m.

Local Gov Seminars: Meal Prep Seminar on Local Gov: https://olt.localgovu.com/courses/wy23-march-wellnessseminar-nutrition-101/

Tobacco Affidavit: https://olt localgovu com/courses/tobacco-affidavit-2022-2023/

Visit

WELCOME ABOARD!

NEW TEAM MEMBERS

Hollyn Grizzaffi

Kelley Wilson

Tyler Wright

Jonathan Banks

Eduardo Sotelo

Zachery Clark

Zachary Waller

Rachel Comstock

Cara Blackmon

Shea Rodgers

Deidre Miller

Yvette Gallardo

Ali Alireza

Ryan Miller

Tanner Lynch

Carson Cole

Joshua Connell

Caison Matney

Christopher Vargas

Logan Ford

Kaleb Culberson

STAY CONNECTED

EMPLOYEE SMS TEXT PROGRAM

The Town offers an SMS text notification program to increase communication to team members.

This program allows us to push updates regarding Town events, Benefit/Wellness Information, FYIs, and general information that employees may find valuable

The program uses our Little Elm Alerts platform, Genasys, to send SMS notifications to your cell phone. Employees must opt-in to the text message program by signing up here. If you do not opt-in, you will not receive SMS text notifications. Scan the QR code to the left to sign up or visit https://qrco.de/bdIFEd.

MILESTONES BIRTHDAYS

Kaleb Alexander 3/2

Raymond Smith 3/3

Cory McDonald 3/5

Ashley Olvera 3/6

Austin Hester 3/7

Preston Staber 3/9

Joseph Ketterer 3/10

Matthew Beedlow 3/11

Joshua Carlson 3/11

Patrick Winchester 3/12

Lauren Gauthier 3/14

Alaa Hasan 3/14

Jarrett Bell 3/16

Aaliyah Mendoza 3/16

Betty Pamplin 3/16

Amari Wright 3/16

Jason Shroyer 3/17

Keith Smith 3/17

Andrew Woodbury 3/17

Tanner Gregg 3/18

Leonard Glover 3/19

Chandler McCann 3/20

Courtney McCann 3/20

Valeria Flores 3/24

Allison Whaley 3/27

Frederic Balbinot 3/30

Angela King-Bush 3/31

Zac Clark 3/31

MILESTONES ANNIVERSARIES

Clint Long 19 years

Bubba Welch 17 years

Chris Wright 17 years

Kevin Hartless 16 years

Marshall Leak 16 years

Crystal Williamson 12 years

Jeramy Dowden 11 years

Trung Pham 11 years

Benjamin Hayes 11 years

TJ Gonzalez 10 years

Noble Goossen 10 years

Owen Hanson 8 years

Jay Lowrey 6 years

Megan Lescallett 6 years

Ryan Furnish 5 years

Chance Weger 5 years

Victor Gonzalez 5 years

David Salomon 5 years

Sean Flynn 5 years

Lupe Rangel 5 years

Wesley Brandon 5 years

Wylie Vance 3 years

Robert Donelson 3 years

Casey McCasland 3 years

Kyle Meyer 2 years

Seth Blackard 2 years

Karen Kreidler 2 years

Frederick Balbinot 2 years

Darielle Neal 2 years

Aubany Russell 2 years

Adrienne Taylor 2 years

Zackary Kemp 2 years

Dakota Vaughn 2 years

McKenna Kesler 2 years

Winter Johnson 2 years

Margaret Troxclair 2 years

Amanda Black 2 years

Jacob Halsey 1 year

Colten Davis 1 year

Ethan Halsey 1 year

Ann Burns 1 year

Joyce Litchfield 1 year

Caedmon Samsel 1 year

Caden Kollasch 1 year

Alex Inocan 1 year

Rachel Mendoza 1 year

Leo Hartman 1 year

THE COMPASS

It is election time again in Little Elm. We face municipal elections every spring and sometimes it gets a little bit wild around the community.

One of the foundations of our form of government is the separation of politics and administration This means that we have an obligation to serve the elected officials that are selected by the public and not influence this process. One of the tenets in our Code of Ethics speaks directly to this.

It says:

Respect the role of policy making body and refrain from local political involvement. One of the foundations of Little Elm’s form of government is the separation between politics and administration. We must respect the decisions of the Town Council and make our best efforts to carry them out successfully.

Except exclusively allowed by law, we should avoid any participation in the election of the local governing body and never lend endorsements to candidates for any public office based on our positions with the Town of Little Elm. Public resources should not be used and endorsements should not be given based on our positions for any question or issue before the voting public.

All team members should be encouraged to utilize their right to vote and should be able to do so without any pressure or persuasion from any member of the Town of Little Elm team to vote a certain way.

I would encourage you to lean into this tenet during the municipal campaign season. We are very fortunate to have elected officials who respect our roles and don’t purposely try to cross into our area of administration In return, we must meet our obligation to stay out of their political realm

CHILI COOKOFF

CHILI COOKOFF

CHILI COOKOFF

CHILI COOKOFF

CHILI COOKOFF

Judges Best Traditional Chili

1st- Globo Gym

2nd- Charlie and the Chili Factory

3rd- 9 to 5

Judges Best Non-Traditional Chili

1st- Fellowship of the Ring

2nd- Fire Prevention

3rd- The Waterboy

Best Theme

1st- Globo Gym

2nd- The Waterboy

3rd- 9 to 5

People’s Choice Chili

21 Jump Street