PORT ANGELES — To create a vibrant future for Port Angeles, the city needs “community champions” — not “crusaders” or “a spirit of divisiveness.”
That was the message from outgoing City Manager Mark Madsen in a talk to this week’s Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce luncheon meeting on Monday.
Madsen spoke for about 40 minutes to more than 100 persons at the Port Angeles CrabHouse Restaurant — often sounding like a college professor, one of his former jobs, couching the beginning of his talk in a historical backdrop and advancing his talk by asking questions of two audience members.
He focused on leadership as the essential element that Port Angeles needs to move forward.
The city doesn’t need “crusaders” (individuals interested only in their own issues), he said.
Instead, it needs “community champions” who can “energize the community,” who can collaborate and work with a broad vision — “champion throughout the community for the entire community.”
Madsen also stressed the necessity for a “diversity” of ideas on how to advance Port Angeles — not a disruptive “spirit of divisiveness.”
“Port Angeles competes in the global marketplace,” he argued, and to get ahead residents, business, government — “everyone in this room” — must collaborate.
“We can work together!” he said.
