Our recent county budget hearing highlighted that our lives, even here in Alleghany County, are becoming increasingly complicated and complex. A snare that is easy to step into is to think of those two terms as synonymous. Two recent examples shed light on how we can tease apart the intricacies between those problems that are complicated and those that are complex.
Developing our county budget is a complicated process. There are countless services that residents expect to be delivered and those services have to be funded at a sustainable level. Fortunately, we have skilled staff that can assess those needs, weigh them against projected revenue and then deliver a balanced budget. It is a complicated task but one that we can delegate to experts who can then deliver a finished product.
That budget hearing also revealed the complex side of the budget process. Representatives from groups that receive funds from the county budget spoke of the impact of the proposed reductions in their 2021-2022 appropriations. These groups make valuable contributions to the public safety, education, health and the economic growth of our county. Ironically, these financial requests make up a small fraction of the county budget. The county commissioners had to make difficult decisions concerning these proposals, all of which they recognize as valuable to our community. As someone said during those discussions, “The pie is only so big.”
Another example comes from the creative place-making (or community development) discussion hosted by Blue Ridge Energy and the Town of Sparta. As representatives from local industry, small businesses, educational institutions, agriculture, real estate and other community organizations came together over the course of the day, several issues or themes were consistently raised during our discussions. One was the need for more housing. As this need was more closely examined, the complexity of the issue became increasingly apparent. Given our limited resources, we discussed whether the focus should be on affordable housing for low income individuals; housing for young or senior adults; housing that meets the needs of families; housing for weekenders or second home owners; or housing for seasonal workers. Once again someone addressed the realization of limited resources with a familiar analogy, “The pie is only so big.” The facilitator responded, “Maybe you need a bigger pie.”
Determining how to carve up an existing pie is a complicated process – baking a bigger pie is complex. So where do we begin?
Visioning is the first step. The facilitator in the creative place-making workshop challenged the participants with the question, “If you could wave a magic wand, and resources were not an issue, what would you like to see happen in your community?” This is not “think outside the box” rhetoric. It is removing the box to think more broadly of the current and future needs of our town and county.
The second step is getting the right people in the room. Complex issues require that we develop or strengthen networks and relationships with existing teams or organizations. It is vital that we include people in the conversation who can allow us to develop a 360 degree, three dimensional view of our challenges. This is an uncomfortable process because it forces us to hear from people with whom we may disagree. Complexity requires that we lean into this discomfort instead of pulling away into our comfortable echo chambers where we all sing the same songs.
Finally, if we are serious about baking a larger pie, we have to rid ourselves of a small pie mentality. It is true that our community faces many challenges around resources. Both examples provided here highlight those issues. But some seem to revel in, and even perpetuate, a “poor but proud” attitude. A continued, narrow focus on our resource challenges or shortcomings will keep our pie small with increasingly smaller pieces for everyone.
Perhaps, as we wave that magic wand, we can even dream so big as to envision ice cream with our pie.
