When Steve Shafran agreed in 2005 to be appointed to the Ketchum City Council, he had no idea what kind of journey to expect. Now as he departs for personal reasons, the businessman-turned-councilman said he wants people to understand what a positive experience serving on the council is.
"I want people to see a guy who didn't believe he could participate in pubic service, and from that starting point you've got a guy who two years later had a great time, feels good about his contribution, is grateful for the opportunity and wants to encourage everybody who is sitting on the fence like I was to get off it."
It's cliché, particularly during the Christmas season, but Shafran said serving on the City Council reaffirmed in him that giving is receiving.
"I feel like I'm the one who got the benefit," he said. "I grew and learned. And I'm just very grateful for that. I had no idea how much I would enjoy public service. The pay has been huge in terms of what I've learned about myself."
Shafran, who recently sold his China-based investment advisory company, was a partner in Goldman Sachs and chairman of that company's charitable contribution committee. He has, however, been coming to the Sun Valley area for more than 40 years.
He was appointed to the Ketchum City Council in January 2006 to a seat vacated by Randy Hall, who was sworn in as mayor that year. Then tragedy struck. On Jan. 24, 2006, Shafran's wife, Janet, died in a plane crash in Carlsbad, Calif.
Involvement on the City Council was one of the things that helped the 48-year-old work through the loss.
"Council was the first thing in my life that I hadn't previously shared with Janet," he said in a previous interview. "The experience was very therapeutic. I needed something to keep myself occupied. As the year went on I enjoyed having the occupation. It never occurred to me to resign."
As 2007 came to an end, however, Shafran said it became clear that it is time to turn to the next chapter of his life. He decided not to file for the November 6 election, and in September enrolled his children in school in Washington, D.C. He's been commuting back to Ketchum since.
In reflecting on the two years since he was elected, Shafran believes the city has done much. Among its accomplishments under the new administration were a new downtown master plan, Fourth Street redevelopment, affordable housing ordinances, hotel guidelines and new street standards.
It was a lot of change in little time.
"I think what happened was you had a combination of some clear needs--downtown master plan, the need for a hotel. It was very clear, undisputedly so," Shafran said. "When I came on the job the issues of the day were the issues, and they stayed the issues for two years. In a way, I could say that made my job easier. We knew what we were trying to do."
There was another element, however, that made things work during the past two years.
"It was like a marriage," Shafran said. "It's good because you work at it. The four of us on the council and the mayor, we worked on our relationships with each other. The notion of being mutually respectful was important.
"My Christmas list for the new body is that they take the time to get to know each other, to respect each other and find their own kind of relationship."
In that vein, Shafran said the city's annual retreats helped it to prioritize goals, but also to build trust and relationships among council members. He said the city should consider doing another in the next month or two in order to work on the kind of relationships the previous political body enjoyed.
Even with two years of notable accomplishments under its belt, the city continues to face change.
"The fact of the matter is that the city administrator and the planning director have left in the last 75 days," Shafran said. "There is going to be a period of time when there's almost too much newness."
A lot of the work will rest on the shoulders of interim City Administrator Jim Jaquet and recently hired Community and Economic Development Director Lisa Horowitz. Jaquet retired from the city administrator's office six years ago, and Horowitz resigned as planning director about the same time, so both are returning veterans.
"I think it's a great team," Shafran said. "They're just going to need to be patient with themselves through this transition. In particular, Jaquet and Horiwitz have an important role to play.
"They're not right off the boat. Jim lives here, and Lisa's been consulting for us for a number of years. The best way to deal with something like this is to be cognizant of it, not let the little things bug them."
Ongoing issues of importance to the city will include sorting out transportation and affordable housing. And increasingly, these and other issues are regional.
"We're going to have to redouble our efforts with the county and the southern cities to make sure everybody likes what we're doing and that everybody's making the appropriate financial contributions," Shafran said. "My goal for the next two years is to agree as a larger (Blaine County) community."
He said housing and transportation are probably main priorities.
The outgoing councilman said progress forged between Ketchum and the county on consolidating emergency 911 dispatch centers may have created a foundation for working on other regional issues.
Throughout an hour-long conversation, Shafran reiterated how much he felt rewarded by serving on the council. But it didn't come without challenges. In business, he said, decisions are made for the good of the business and its shareholders. Public service has a much broader mandate.
"As a city, what's on your plate is what's on your plate," he said. "You don't get to opt out."
He said public discourse discourages both brilliant creativity and stupid ideas.
"In public you don't say the dumb things, and sometimes you don't say the smart things either. You don't get to have that creative kind of dialogue."
And one of the foremost challenges of politics in Ketchum is the lack of a shared vision.
"We have a segment of the community that is very happy with the Ketchum they live in, and is scared of change," Shafran said. "And really passionately and in their hearts they really feel strongly that change is a mistake.
"We have another segment of the community that desperately wants there to be change: bigger buildings, more people. Each of those choices has social costs. And I don't ever think there's going to be a right or a wrong, but they're sort of irreconcilable."
Shafran said without hesitation that he would become involved in some sort of public service again. He said it very likely could include working in an executive capacity at a foundation or non-profit.
"I like fixing things," he said. "I like the nitty gritty. It comes from either having a very narrow policy or very likely an institution with a narrow focus. If you think about it, we've just talked for an hour or more about all these things, and we haven't talked about Fourth Street, Community Core zoning, parking or whether or not the city should be promoting hotels.
"In a way, that is something to take stock and reflect on. Those things went from, 'Should they happen?' to 'Let's make them happen.' And that's the legacy of this two-year council, and that's something to be proud of. At least I am."
Shafran said his biggest lesson learned is that you can have fun and feel good about being a public servant. "Not only did I not believe that, but it seems the vast majority of Ketchum residents don't believe that."
He said his biggest regret is not having two more years on the council. "My heart's just not ready to leave the opportunity."
And the highest of high points, he said, was that the City Council "changed the tone of the debate."
"It's gone over from, 'What should we do?' to 'How are we going to do it?'" he said. "That wasn't the way the world was until the last two years. I think it is today."
Steve Shafran
