And So We Begin Again

I was elected a a Board of Trustee member of my home owner's association in October of 2012. I am one of  9 board members... a somewhat larger group than I am used to.  When I was a Board of Education member, I was one of 7.  The Council has 5 members.

The trick to working with a large group, or any group for that matter, is to be willing to listen to other opinions.  Jumping in all the time is just plain counterproductive.  I hope to work well with my fellow Trustees because I already know and respect them.

In some ways this will be easier than the Council since our constituency is only about 2500 people.  The township of  Jackson has a constituency of more than 50,000.  In other ways it will be harder, because I am on the Board of the community in which I live.

I have only been on the Board since January, so I have only had one meeting.  All of my fellow trustees were friendly and welcoming.  My first open Board meeting will be next week.  I will see firsthand what it's like to sit in front of your neighbors and have opinions that may be contrary to some of theirs. I have learned from my almost 30 years as an elected official that you really can't please everyone all of the time. But you CAN listen to people all of the time, and that's what I plan to do.

It's Over...Thanks for the Ride

Well, folks, I'm out of the Council business. At 12 midnight on December 31,2012, I was former Councilwoman Rivere. At 12:01 On January 12, 2013, I was Board of Trustee member Bobbie. Maybe out of the frying pan into the fire. We shall see. It was quite an experience for 4 1/2 years. I have been writing along the way since before the election. Many things have gone down over these years, and so much was based on politics. I truly tried never to make my decisions because of politics. OK, I cannot tell a lie. I did vote for a Board appointment on a political level. But when it came to Council decisions, I voted my conscience. I was in the majority some of the time and in the minority at other times, but I never voted because someone got to me. It was what it was, and I am pretty proud of my record. I will miss my parking space at the Municipal Building, but I am happy to let younger folks take over the job. I hope the fact that the entire Council and the Mayor are all of the same political party will not stop the members from making fair decisions. Perhaps there will even be issues that inspire debate among the Council members and that end up with other than a 5-0 decision. Good luck to you all. For me, I say thanks for the ride.