2 weeks Ago
Editor’s Note: We asked Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum in August about lessons from his time as the city’s 40th mayor.
Calling it his “dream job,” he returned the following responses, which were originally published on Aug. 16. Question: “What were some of the aspects of the job you didn’t expect but would advise future mayors to be prepared for?” Bynum: I am the fourth person in my family to serve as mayor and worked with two mayors as a councilor before coming into the job, so I had a pretty firm understanding of the job.
That said, there were a few eye-openers in my first year. First, this job never turns off. To call it 24/7 doesn’t do it justice.
You are the mayor for every second of the four years of that term. When you go home, you’re thinking about it. When you’re asleep, you keep your phone on so you can be alerted to emergencies in the middle of the night.
You plan your vacations so you can get back quickly if something bad happens. And you develop a default in your brain where you are always looking for things that need to be fixed — everywhere you go. People are also reading.
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10 Norman North to remain unbeaten It consumes your life, if you’re doing the job justice. And given that this job is the greatest honor the citizens of Tulsa can bestow on any of their neighbors, you have a responsibility to do it justice. There’s a reason Sen.
Jim Inhofe called this the hardest job he ever had. Second, the chief of police will call you every time there is a homicide. And every time they do, you will feel like you could have done something to prevent that person’s death.
This is not rational, but with the sense of responsibility you feel for the job it will hit you. At least it did me. And this will be the case when you have natural disasters, too: You will feel a personal responsibility to protect people that is sometimes in reality out of your direct control.
Third, the team at the city of Tulsa is extraordinary. Because they are civil servants who go about their work competently, you don’t hear a lot about them until you are their chief executive. But the talent, the selflessness, the devotion to service — it is widespread.
They really are the best in the business. Question: “What are some things about the position the general public may not understand?” Bynum: There is a huge one I’ve encountered: People think the mayor mostly gives speeches, cuts ribbons and offers opinions about whatever the hot topic of the day happens to be on social media or to the press. But 90% of my time is spent running the city.
The stuff people see publicly takes up 10% of my time at the maximum. I think this is rooted in people not realizing the difference in our form of government compared to most cities. In most cities, the mayor is the chair of the city council and a city manager runs the city government day-to-day.
In Tulsa, we have a strong-mayor form of government, and the mayor runs the city day-to-day. That means 90%-plus of my time is spent managing direct reports and department directors, developing and managing budgets, driving policy initiatives, etc. On a typical non-emergency week, I work 70 hours to 80 hours on average, and only a few of those hours would be spent on public engagements.
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