Blog: The clock is ticking, are we clinging to the old?

The vision of the current Imatra council for the next decade is: Imatra - A city bigger than its size.

The Ministry of Finance has just published a freshly baked multi-hundred-page report on the state of Finnish municipalities (VM 2020:13). The report is titled "Municipalities at a turning point". The title of the report commissioned by the current government says the essential thing: we are now at a real turning point in all Finnish municipalities.

A turning point means a fundamental change. Based on the descriptions in the report, the outlook after the turn at hand is unfortunately not rosy for us at Imatra either.

The report is based on current information and forecasts. Since the report was prepared by the best experts in the country, it is probably wise to believe that the scenarios painted in it are coming true, unless we soon find ways to do something in Imatra in a completely new way.

My own view of the urgency of the matter is that during the first years of the decade that has just started, the new openings must be found to turn the direction. Reversing the direction requires solutions that are completely different from what we were used to before. Unfortunately, safe and familiar models will no longer be enough at this point.

You have to dare. In our future solutions, we must dare to look much further into the future than, say, a few years away to the year 2025. 

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The current Imatra city council has confirmed its own ethical guidelines for the city last autumn. At Imatra, responsibility and implementation of responsibility are also considered an important value. It should be completely clear to everyone today that responsibility is a basic requirement for all successful operations today.

What does responsibility mean in municipal decision-making?

In my opinion, the municipal decision-maker can exercise the greatest responsibility in the current situation by daring, setting an example and being brave. In decision-making, responsibility is borne by taking responsibility for the long-term development of the city, not for the pursuit of quick profits, and not for fishing for backsliders based on easy solutions.

In responsible decision-making, you have to be able to withstand the sometimes violent turbulence of resistance to change.

Bold decisions often do not cherish the preservation of the status quo. Especially not in a situation where the scenarios for maintaining the current state are drawn as we can read in the just published report of the Ministry of Finance.

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In the summary of the report's most important points, one of the characteristics of a municipality that succeeds in changes has been highlighted separately. It is the ability to make decisions. The ability to make decisions in municipalities means in particular that, despite different roles and different background ideologies, we can operate in a good atmosphere of trust and cooperation and thus achieve quick and timely decisions for the benefit of Imatra. Just as the late chairman of our council, Tiina, always aptly described: in our council, decisions are made as "Imatra party" for the benefit of the whole city.

So how do we guarantee that the vision of Imatra set by our current council will be realized when we reach the 2030s? At least not by clinging to the old. At least not by forgetting that with today's decisions we are building Imatra, where our diaper-wearing citizens and even their children could live a happy and good life. If the future is otherwise uncertain, I dare say that it is certain that we will not succeed by hanging on to the old.

That's why I challenge all of us to take part in the joint discussion that builds the future of Imatra with an open mind and in the spirit of new thinking. Only through innovative thinking will we realize the vision.

With cooperation and responsibility, we build a common Imatra. We are building a bigger city - even for future generations.

 
Kaisa Heino
Deputy mayor of Imatra