By Daryl Delabbio, ICMA-CM

Leadership characteristics are plentiful: developing and communicating a compelling vision, being technically competent, having high emotional intelligence, showing appreciation for—and respect to—those with whom and on whose behalf you work. And, of course, being ethical and having a strong moral compass.

During my 40-year career in local government, I also found that passion was an essential characteristic that helped me in my leadership role. I saw passion contribute to the success of other leaders.

For me, this includes passion for the profession, passion for the communities that managers serve, passion for ICMA, and passion for state and provincial associations.

But when can passion result in an ethical dilemma? When can passion override legal or ethical obligations? When can that win-at-all-costs attitude motivate someone to tread on the line between being ethical and being unethical?

Unfortunately, in one instance, I found out how overriding passion and belief that “doing the right thing” led me in the direction of “the ends justify the means,” and almost resulted in a breach of ethics.

Thanks to two staff members who had the courage to question me, I didn’t make that mistake.

My Story

In 2007–2008, the Great Recession was beginning but Michigan had been experiencing economic challenges for most of the 2000s. The future was troubling.

The county I managed faced numerous financial challenges, with a fair degree of uncertainty about what we would confront within the next three to five years.

One of the biggest issues was a 20-year property tax millage that funded half of the operations of the county’s correctional facility and paid for all bonded debt on a capital project approved in 1990, which was expiring 
in 2010.

As we looked to the future, we needed to demolish, renovate, and build new space to house prisoners, making it necessary for the county to request a millage renewal from voters.

Michigan, and I assume most if not all other states, prohibits public funds from being used to advocate for ballot issues, financial or otherwise. State law limits local governments and other publicly funded organizations to providing information only. This is as it should be; public funds should not be used to advocate for issues or funding requests.

As staff members and I were in the midst of preparing a communications strategy for the millage’s renewal, we were cognizant of the importance of the millage vote and concerned about its passage.

During one meeting where we were discussing the millage and the strategy for disseminating information about it, I was so caught up in the importance of the millage vote being successful that I started to talk about ways to use the information to advocate for passage, as opposed to just educating the voters on the issue. . .a definite legal and ethical “no-no.”

I have always prided myself on being an ethical leader. I displayed the ICMA Code of Ethics in my office and referred to it. I preached ethics with staff and elected officials, and I had facilitated ethics training for county employees for more than 20 years.

I also prided myself on being a leader whom staff could candidly talk with about any subject; however, there is always difficulty in “speaking to power.”

And did I really mean what I said about being able to receive honest feedback? While it is easy to say I was approachable, no one likes to be challenged, particularly if the question is: “Do you practice what you preach?”

Fortunately, two assistant administrators were not afraid to question me on the issue. They didn’t do it at the staff meeting, and didn’t talk with me together. Each came to me privately, not knowing the other had done the same, within a day of the meeting.

Both asked if I thought I was going in a direction they believed I would not want to go. While they may have felt hesitant about discussing the matter with me, they were professional, respectful, and candid.

And there is no question they were right. I appreciated that they had the courage to talk with me and felt the ethical obligation to call me on my passion. Even if I was motivated by a noble outcome, I was treading on thin ice.

Lesson Learned

At the next staff meeting, I apologized for suggesting a potential breach of legal and ethical boundaries and complimented the two assistants for “checking me.” We were back on track to provide information, not advocacy. It was a valuable, and humbling, lesson learned.

Passion can be good. Passion can be great. I will argue that passion is essential. But passion cannot trump legal, ethical, and moral behavior. Passion cannot override doing what is right and doing it in the right way.

Passion cannot be an excuse for the ends justifying the means, regardless of the intent or motivation of an individual. Although this incident happened more than a decade ago, it served as a healthy reminder to me throughout the remainder of my career.

And in the end, the public voted to approve the millage extension for another 20 years, despite the recession we were facing, and with only information—no advocacy—provided by the county.

Daryl Delabbio, Ph.D., ICMA-CM, and an ICMA Life Member, is retired county administrator/controller, Kent County, Michigan (djdelabbio@gmail.com). He served on the ICMA Committee on Professional Conduct, 2014–2017.