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The State of Our Community luncheon debuted its panel discussion format today.

My humble verdict: It’s the right way to go, an improvement over the succession of prepared speeches in the past.

Except there were still prepared speeches.

The panelists were apprised of the questions ahead of time for reasons that escape me.

That's not necessary (these folks know their stuff) and it saps some of the energy from the event..

Mayor Yvonne Johnson read most of every answer from prepared notes. School board Chairman Alan Duncan used some notes..

But Skip Alston, chairman of the county commissioners, used no notes, except in his opening remarks.

And he came across as the most quotable, most memorable and most effective of the three.

That’s more than a little ironic, since Alston had said beforehand that he did not like the new format and  that he suspected it was intended to set him up

But the format actually does play to Alston’s strengths, as I predicted in Tuesday’s post. (I admit, I got lucky).

He is good on his feet.

“At first, I didn’t like this format,”  Alston said afterward. “ ... But I kinda like it. Do it more often than once a year.”

Maybe even every month, he added.

Alston came across as forceful, clear and statesmanlike.

He showed again why he has the tools to be one of the county’s most effective public officials.

If only (as they say in sci-fi movies and comic books) he would use those special powers for good.

When he does, he can cut an impressive figure.

He did Wednesday.

Not that I bought everything he was selling.

Alston made some very good, if familiar,  points on Wednesday:

• The need to eliminate duplication and to increase efficiencies by combining more city and county services.
• The need for more ongoing communication and collaboration among city and county governments — “to check our egos at the door” and “talk more to each other than talking about each other.”
• He even flatly stated that the Guilford County Schools need more money. “I know that they are hurting,” he said. “They need all the funds they can get.”

But some of the pronouncements don’t square with how Alston has conducted some of his business.

There was scant communication to the media or anyone else when Alston and commissioners Vice Chairman Steve Arnold several months ago engineered a clean sweep of top county administrators, including the manager, deputy manager and attorney.

But it would be dishonest not to give Alston and Arnold their props for cutting county spending, avoiding a tax increase and conceiving an intriguing new incentives policy that would be more consistent and benefit more businesses, especially smaller ones.

At one point on Wednesday, Alston came close to sounding like a country pastor.

“We may have come over in different ships,” he said, quoting an old saying.

The mayor said Amen tand the congregation chuckled.

“But we’re in the same boat now.”

One even dares wonder if Alston has begun to find his voice as not just a politician, but a leader.

If he finally commits to practicing what he preaches more than some of the time, who knows?.