It's Over But It's Just Begun

Last night, we appointed our new Mayor, Mike Reina. It was good to have that behind us, but it now opens up a whole series of problems. My abstention was truly heartfelt. I could not choose between my former running mates. There was no right way to do this, and either way, I caused hard feelings and probably appeared indecisive. Not true. I had decided I would do that a long time ago. I just followed through.

The second problem is the election of the new Council member. Last night I brought up a name, because I sincerely believe he would do an excellent job. Unfortunately, there were not three votes, and the nomination did not pass. If I thought that was going to happen, I never would have brought up the name. The idea that three people on the Council asked for resumes for the Council position would be funny if it weren't so sad. None of these people thought resumes for Mayor were necessary, and now resumes are suddenly vital. I see all the handwriting on the wall.

I will be leaving for vacation on Monday. I hope when I come back, I have restored my faith in the process, and we can move forward. I wish the new Mayor well, and I hope he and the Council can move on with the business of governing. This is NOT what I signed on for.

We're Tightening the Purse

The amount of spending our esteemed Mayor is doing is almost mind boggling. However, the Council is doing what it can to stop him in his tracks. After last month's lowering of the threshold for bid, we cut him off at the heels with a lot of the bills on Wednesday. The best one I found was his submitting to go to the League of Municipalities conference. Is he out of his mind? He told me the room he reserved was for the next Mayor. If he thought I believed that, he had another think coming. We unanimously voted NOT to pay that bill. And I can assure everyone that there will be more we will deny. None of us has the stomach to let this spending go on. And the next budget will be unbelievably scrutinized before it ever gets by this Council. The Department heads are on notice that we want some serious cuts.

As for transferring between accounts, that is a very common practice. We used to do that all the time on the Board of Education. It's just that when I served on that Board, I trusted the Superintendent of Schools. I do not trust the Mayor. And his people can't function under the Reign of Terror he has created. I couldn't function well either if I thought I would lose my job if I went against the Mayor's wishes. The Town is in "freeze" mode, and it won't go away until the Mayor does. We can't shut down the Government. We just need to keep a good eye on the Governors.

But we will keep on keeping on. This is a good Council. We work well together, and together we will try to fix what's broken. That is what we were elected to do.