By JACKIE TAYLOR | September 30, 2026

The ladder

So, from a young age, I was taught that the hands you step on going up the ladder, may be the same ones that are there when you climb down the ladder – or are thrown off the ladder (or some derivation to that effect.)

Pleasanton City Hall is closed today as there are no workers to man the post, or posts, as several positions are now open. 

Hostile work environment is named time and time again as a reason people are leaving the city; it takes one time watching a video or visiting a council meeting to see what employees mean.

The heartbeat of America – the world – is comprised of employees who do the work. No business, city, school, farm, etc. can do what needs to be done without someone working to accomplish those duties.

It’s obvious that we all want the perfect employee – the person that fits the role to a T, at a price we can afford, with the ability to lead people and accomplish every task to perfection. But, last I knew, Jesus died on a cross and there are no perfect people or employees.

I equate management as a living organism; each new person that comes on board brings new dynamics to an organization. Each company has a standard operating guideline, but those guidelines are often bent or moved to fit the skills that people bring to a company.

If we could hire perfect employees, there would be no need for SOGs or other rule books we try to keep updated. Unfortunately, there are no perfect employees, there are people that try hard to do a good job and accomplish the tasks in front of them.

If my employees don’t do a good job, I didn’t train well or I didn’t fit the person in a role they could succeed at. Cross training is a wonderful thing; often it brings out the best in many people as they try to train each other and end up showing skills the employer didn’t know they had.

Small towns across America are little ponds; but many councils think they are big fish in those little ponds and forget that people are the backbone of our country.

Today, the public cannot conduct normal business because our city hall is closed. People matter; when they don’t, management finds itself in a position where chaos hits and doors close.

People come and go; a council may be trying to find the best people it can while forcing those who were loyal to the company to move on. Loyalty is a huge asset to any business; I’d rather have a loyal employee who needs more training than one looking for greener pastures at every bend in the road.

Longevity of employees is important; training is very expensive and time consuming and employers need to work to retain personnel – especially in small towns where the labor pool is small and people talk.

I’ve found that if someone has the interest to work for me that I need to expend the energy, time and talent to train them. 

Everyone is expendable – me, council people, everyone – with that, we need to be training those who can replace us and hopefully, with the ability to do a better job than we do.